His Burning Star
by LeviathanoftheSky
Summary: Kylo never expected the healing process with the general to be easy, and the supposedly deceased Supreme Leader's constant interference with his thoughts isn't helping. To make matters worse, Hux starts to experience sporadic episodes of paranoia that may or may not have something to do with the Force.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

Warnings: Past Rape/Non-con

Hello! This is a sequel to "His Endless Cycle" and "His Pale Green Eyes." Please enjoy :)

* * *

Kylo awoke with a jolt just as his head dipped towards the artificial gravity of the _Finalizer_ , datapad slipping from his fingers. He caught the tablet with the Force before it could hit the durasteel floors and awaken the room's other occupant, and he called the object of his exhaustion back to him, gloved fingers curling securely over the spreadsheet of the First Order's current expenses. He stared at the numbers for another moment before placing it aside to stretch, rising from the armchair he had pulled into Hux's bedroom without the general's permission.

He had not imagined that the mountain of work would pile up this much with the general out of commision only a few cycles, but Snoke really did give Hux much of the responsibilities the Supreme Leader himself should have been attending to. It was a wonder that the general hadn't collapsed earlier during Snoke's rule.

He looked to the sleeping form of the other, the gentle rise and fall of the sheets along with the soft breathing that had lulled Kylo into sleep earlier continuing on softly like a lullaby. Strands of Hux's fiery hair covered his face, untamed by the pomade that the other usually wore.

Kylo moved over to the bed, brushing some of that bed hair aside. Hux slumbered on, still blissfully encased in his dreams just as the doctor had ordered. It had taken Kylo great pains to convince Dr. Andrienne to allow the general outside of the medbay, and he wasn't about to let his hard work go to waste by letting the general work himself to the point of collapsing again.

His eyes trailed down to Hux's lips, relaxed from the constant grimace the other seemed to always wear.

The kiss suddenly came to mind, the man's lips under his, gentle and hopeful.

Hux had not fought back.

He had sensed the other enjoying the contact as much as he did, and he wondered if he would have tried to push a little further if Hux had not been hurt, if Dr. Andrienne hadn't chosen that moment to return. Kylo reminded himself that he needed to be wary of the woman. She definitely had a good head on her shoulders, and he didn't want to be on her bad side in case she was ever the one who had to patch him up.

He would probably ask for her again if it ever came to that; she had done an excellent job on Hux, given their limited resources after the destruction of the _Supremacy_.

Hux shifted a little in his sleep towards his uninjured shoulder.

Kylo frowned. What if he had been imagining it though? The uncomfortable thought suddenly rang through him. What if Hux had only yielded to him because he felt obligated to?

He shoved the idea away as quickly as it had came. He would show Hux that he meant his word.

Yes, he was Darkness, but he was not Snoke.

A groan snapped him out of his own reverie. Kylo moved closer. Hux's eyebrows were tense, translucent red eyelashes trembling in his sleep. Was he having a nightmare?

He took a deep breath, wondering if he should wake the other or not. Or, he could go in and soothe the man in his sleep with the Force like he did before. He had already delved into Hux's mind many times without the general's permission, more than once not intending to; the other had been projecting very heavily that first time he woke after the stimulant overdose. He did not know why he was so reluctant now to go in.

Kylo gritted his teeth.

He should not have anything to fear.

He was not Snoke, he repeated in his head.

.

 _Hux was suspended in a cold blanket of Darkness, alone. He sighed, knowing that he should have expected as much as he began walking forward, onward with no destination in mind. He was used to this he told himself, this emptiness that had accompanied him all his life._

 _He paused when he saw a familiar scene forming before him, and he took a breath, biting his lips in an attempt to keep them from trembling. It was just a memory, a remnant of the past. He tried to will the nightmare away before it could completely form. It was-_

 _His breath hitched and he felt as if the air had been forcibly sucked out of him when the fog cleared up._

 _He had failed._

 _Again._

 _Brendol Hux stood over Jekri's body, a smoking blaster in one hand and a belt at the ready in the other._

 _His father turned around, and he instinctively took a step back. Hux knew that he should know better; the old man had been dead for quite a few years now, thanks to him, but the one in his dreams always lived and breathed as if he were real._

 _And Jekri's death had always replayed over and over in his head like and endlessly cycling holo._

 _"Disgusting," his father hissed._

 _"I…" The belt struck him before he could form the words._

 _"You are weak." Another flash of pain. He bent over, trying to shield himself from the blows. It was never-ending. It was-_

 _His thoughts trailed to Ren, a force of destruction, the soft kiss on lips. The pain dulled somewhat, and he made to stand up straight._

 _Yet, the belt came down again, sending him to the ground. He was suddenly a boy once more, the lanky academy cadet that had fallen in love with his dark haired classmate. Jekri's lifeless eyes stared back at him, pupils dilated because of him, because he had dared to hope._

 _He froze, feeling the fight leaving him. He was nothing more than a puppet trapped in this endless cycle, the bastard child of an officer of the old Galactic Empire._

 _"Hux!" he heard an echo from the recesses of his mind._

 _A wave of Darkness blocked the next blow, sending his father a couple of steps back. The man sneered._

 _"He will not save you. No one can save you from this."_

 _Suddenly, it was Snoke before him, that same Darkness radiating around the disfigured form of the former Supreme Leader. His abuser laughed, a voice the croak of a creature long tainted with sickness._

 _"Did you think you could run from me? That you were free?" he asked._

 _Hux trembled, unable to move. He waited for the Darkness to protect him again, but it only pulsed menacingly, its touch cold._

 _The corners of Snoke's mouth turned upward into a smile, black eyes shining like a predator closing in on its prey._

 _"Ren is also Darkness like me. You will never escape."_

"Hux!" His eyes snapped open to the panicked voice of another, his body suddenly frozen as if he felt hands all over him. Hux instinctively kept still and clenched his eyes shut again, hoping that it will pass quickly, that Snoke would change his mind. He was empty. He was-

"Armitage!" the voice repeated, and he opened an eye carefully to see the figure of Ren towering over him, not Snoke. He could move. There were no hands, only one gloved hand on his uninjured shoulder, Ren's hand.

"R-Ren?" he croaked, not trusting his own voice as he slowly sat up. His shoulder ached in protest, still bruised from the surgery.

"You were moaning in your sleep, so I woke you up," Ren explained, his expressive eyes wide with apology as he withdrew the hand.

"T-thank you," Hux replied after a moment, rubbing at his eyes with his good arm. He supposed it was a tad too hopeful on his part that the nightmares would disappear just like that. The Darkness he felt in that one had seemed too real for comfort. He wondered if it was from Ren when the other was trying to wake him.

His eyes trailed to Ren's hand, now clenched in a fist at the man's side as if he were afraid to touch him. He vaguely remembered someone shaking him awake now that his mind was more lucid.

He missed the warmth.

 _._

The next few cycles passed without much incident save for Hux pestering Kylo for a datapad after claiming that he would promptly die of boredom if he had nothing to do. Kylo aptly concluded that the redhead was a workaholic at heart after all despite everything that had happened. The mountain of official documents became a hill, then a desert by the end of the seventh cycle.

"Are you sure?" Kylo attempted one last time.

"Of course!" Hux snapped, green eyes flashing. "Who do you think you are talking to? And as you already pointed out yesterday, the wound is mostly closed." A furious blush flashed across the man's face as he turned around, most likely remembering the night before when he had slipped in the refresher and Kylo had came running. Hux had been adamant about taking showers on his own despite the stitches, and Kylo had chosen to oblige on the agreement that the general would continue to rest his full fourteen cycles as recommended by Dr. Andrienne.

Well, he had broken the agreement early and Hux had decided to return to work early. He supposed he was lucky they made it to nine. Kylo held back a smile as he went into the living room to allow the other some privacy to change.

The fire had returned as brightly as before.

 _"You promised me a new world. We've got a lot of work to do."_

 _"I need you to rest first."_

 _"Well, I'm rested, so there."_

Kylo followed the general to the bridge upon the latter's return to duty, determined to keep an eye on Hux for the time being. Hux had been adamant about his return, not wanting the others to question his absence, especially now that it was decided that he was not to die from overexertion and an overdose of stimulants.

He watched absentmindedly from the side as Mitaka walked up to Hux, eyes beaming. He made a mental note to keep the two apart if they began to seem too intimate.

The other officers on the bridge steered clear of Kylo, their eyes averted to their work. He could sense their fear of him, well-placed in his opinion given what he has shown of his power.

Hux himself seemed to have no trouble returning to his current role. He could see the general muttering under his breath as he went through his missed comms from that morning. If he had not allowed the other use of his datapad, they would have likely numbered in the thousands by now.

Kylo himself had already secretly taken care of the most pressing matter at hand without Hux knowing. The _Finalizer_ would have to go refuel soon before they could start doing any real work anyway, so that would give the general ample time to reorganize all those plans he and Snoke had been discussing into something more palpable for both Kylo and him.

For starters, rebuilding the fleet was going to take a while. He had already commed the other ships to join them, under Hux's guidance of course. The First Order had to show a united front after that fiasco, even with the Resistance torn to shreds like this. The thought of Rey sent a wave of anger through him, and he took a breath to calm himself when the nearest officer looked up. Destroying the control panel beeping innocently next to him was not going to make the situation any better.

He will need to reassert his newfound authority to the present before they could start on their work.

Which was, he had to admit, not very clear. He had figured that they would decide on something when Hux was fully recovered. He would give the other a few more cycles before discussing them in detail with him.

Kylo blinked, noticing that Hux was watching him out of the corner of his eye. He averted his eyes instinctively, turning around to leave. Hux would not get any work done with him watching so closely.

He made his way back to his new makeshift office in the _Finalizer,_ much simpler than the gaudy throne room Snoke kept on the _Supremacy_ , a desk and chair decorating the room along with a bookcase, empty for the time being. He sighed, slumping down on his chair to recall the recent events.

He had tried to ease Hux's nightmares like the first time, but his Darkness had nearly overwhelmed the man instead, almost swallowing Hux up like a hungry beast. His control of his powers was topnotch, so he did not understand how he could have lost control that last time.

He remembered how Hux had froze when he touched him, eyes glassy and distant. The general's mind had automatically went blank, and for a moment his own heart had stopped, thinking the other had died.

Kylo could not chase the memory from his mind. He supposed it was too good to be true that Hux would be healed so easily after the kiss, that he could push things further. The paranoia, now free in the open without the oppression of Snoke, was free in the open to take hold.

He feared that he had released something worse in the man.

.

Hux cleared the last of his messages with a satisfied stroke of his finger on his datapad before turning back to Mitaka.

"It seems that we are up to date. I must commend you on your work, Lieutenant."

The other man saluted him before glancing around to see if there was anyone within earshot. His eyes returned back to attention when he saw that the coast was clear. "I'm glad you're okay, sir," Mitaka admitted after a moment.

Hux looked at him, the words in his mind at the tip of his tongue for a moment before he swallowed. He wondered if Mitaka had a hand in Ren's timely discovery of him when he had been on his delirious way back to his quarters before he collapsed. "Thank you," he managed.

Mitaka beamed. "We'll need to go to refuel soon, sir. The Supreme Leader has already chose a location beforehand, but he told me to run it by you first. Wait, let me send you the coordinates." He rummaged through his datapad, forwarding the message.

Hux frowned slightly, wondering when in the world Ren had the time to slip this past him during the last few cycles. His datapad pinged, and he swiped to open the message. Hux nearly dropped the device but held on, his fingers gripping the screen so hard he feared it would crack. Did Ren do this knowingly?

"Sir?" Mitaka asked, seeming to catch onto his hesitation.

He wanted to reply, to brush it off, but his eyes were frozen on the planet listed on the map in the screen, the name like honey on his tongue.

"Arkanis…" he muttered to himself, the nostalgia washing over him like waves. His last memories of his home planet was of his father pushing him into the transport ship during their escape when the New Republic had invaded.

It was raining that day.

"If all is well, then I will inform the others to set a course for Arkanis, sir." He looked at Mitaka, who was staring at him expectantly, the worry glimmering in the edge of the man's eyes. "Or, if you'd prefer, there are other stations close by we can choose as well," the lieutenant offered Hux a way out. Hux wondered if Ren had advised Mitaka on this as well.

"That's…" Hux hesitated, unable to come up with an excuse to cover for himself. There wasn't really any reason not to go either. "Arkanis is fine," he replied. He shouldn't worry the lieutenant anymore.

Mitaka saluted him briefly before darting away, determined to take as much off of Hux's shoulders as feasibly possible as he went to the crew to input their new destination.

Hux grimaced, wondering just what Ren was trying to accomplish by bringing him back there of all places. Arkanis was long ago, a buried piece of his history.

He returned to his datapad, determined to distract his wandering thoughts with whatever work he could get his hands on. There was also the matter of their future. They will have to talk about the direction of the First Order soon. The thought made him uneasy. He had dedicated his life's work to Snoke's vision. He did not remember whether or not he had found it twisted, only that he had followed blindly in his pursuit of the end of his own collar.

Hux swallowed thickly. Never again, he told himself. He will allow himself to hope.

Ren had allowed him to hope.

A low rumble indicated their jump to lightspeed, and the darkness dissipated into the familiar vortex of bright lights when a sudden pressure seemed to surround him as he were submerged in water. He blinked, the voices of the crew around him muffled. He thought it strange and looked around to see if anyone else was affected.

The pressure only intensified.

"General?" Mitaka was beside him in an instant, looking worried.

"I'm fine," he managed. "I'll be returning to my office to catch up on some work. Inform me of any changes."

"Yes, sir!"

He could almost feel the worried stare on his back as he escaped from the bridge, the pressure around him only getting heavier as the door slid closed behind him.

Hux stumbled along the corridor to his office, leaning on the wall for support as a high pitched buzz permeated the air around him. He frowned, trying to shake the sensation from his head as he attempted to reason out the cause. He had only taken one pain stim today at the request of Ren before he left his quarters. There was no reason for such a strong reaction from the nervous system.

He entered his office, finding its familiar sight a comfort. It wasn't until he was halfway to his desk that everything suddenly became quiet, the buzzing gone and the pressure remained a weight upon his body.

He heard a laugh.

 _"You cannot escape from me,"_ Snoke's voice echoed throughout the confines of the room, surrounding him with its intensity.

He froze mid-step, his knees giving way as they fell to the floor, hard. Hux covered his ears instinctively, bending over to shield himself from the being that was not there.

Snoke was dead, he told himself, chanted repeatedly. The dead cannot hurt him.

Brendol sneered at him in his head.

"No… no…" he whimpered. "Stay away."

He imagined hands on him again, pushing him down, spreading his legs. He hugged himself tighter, fighting the sensation, when suddenly a wave of Darkness washed over him like in the dream. Brendol disappeared, and the pressure shivered as it were alive.

"Hux?"

He blinked, suddenly free, and he looked up slowly from where he had crouched down on the floor.

The surprise in Kylo's eyes weighed down on him. He did not deserve their warmth. He was tainted, so tainted. He felt the Darkness surrounding him again as it had been doing all his life, hostile once more, threatening to snuff out what was left of his pathetic existence.

He gasped, feeling the Dark swell around him even more. He could not breathe.

"Hux," Ren crouched down until they were at eye level, placing a careful hand on his arm. He was now suffocating, his mind going blank. "Hey, what's wrong?"

He wanted to tell Ren what was wrong, but his voice failed him, and the hands, they returned in full force. He felt himself going numb, as if his body were thrown into a sea of ice. He was scared, he realized, scared of the Darkness that radiated from the other, much like Snoke's. He was scared of the warmth.

But, Ren was not Snoke, he reminded himself. He was not. He was not. He was-

"Armitage?" Ren repeated, expressive dark eyes worried.

The Darkness then lifted, as if a Light had flickered it away, the Light that was left in Kylo.

Hux took a breath, his lungs gasping.

"It's nothing," he reassured the other. "The pain stim was wearing off."

He allowed the other to help him up, and Ren led him over to the desk, withdrawing his hand as soon as Hux had seated himself.

"I'll go call a droid to bring a new one," Ren told him, turning around. Hux rubbed his arm absentmindedly, missing the warmth.

.

Kylo had felt Hux's distress from across the ship and reprimanded himself for letting the other return back to work so soon as he watched the man administer a fresh pain stim from the corner of his eye. He knew that Hux didn't need it; he hadn't felt physical pain from the other when he had entered the room, but he had definitely heard the laughter.

It was laughter from Snoke, amused and cruel.

 _"Look at him. Do you think you can take him from me?"_

Kylo had told the voice to shut up, blocking it out as he had crouched down to help the general to his feet. But, he had felt the presence only grow stronger.

 _"You cannot control me. I am now part of you, and he is still mine, forever trapped in Darkness. There will be no Light to save him."_

I will be the Light, Kylo had told him.

 _"You are Darkness. I raised you to be Darkness. There is no more Light for you to cling to."_

He snapped out of his reverie when he felt eyes on him. He wanted to walk over and just embrace the other, to let Hux know that he would not let anyone harm him here, but the man had frozen again when he touched him earlier, had been tense until the moment he let go.

The general looked away when their eyes met, his gaze turning to the shiny surface of his desk.

"Please ignore that display, Supreme Leader," he muttered.

Kylo felt his heart drop. He was losing him.

"Just call me Kylo when we're alone. There is no need for the honorifics," he replied after a moment, not knowing what he could say that would reassure the other.

The change in topic seemed to work for the most part as those pale green eyes warmed. "So no more Ren either? I was rather used to that one," he jested weakly.

"Kylo is fine," he told Hux, rather taken aback those eyes. He could never seem to get enough of them when they weren't glaring at him. He had noticed that they would sometimes change color depending on the lighting and Hux's general mood. They were a deep sea-green now, courtesy of the lights he had dimmed earlier at Hux's request.

The general sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I suppose you would want to use my first name as well." Hux seemed to consider this for a moment as he pulled out his datapad. Kylo once again wondered to what extent was this man a workaholic. Hux continued, "It's already too late for me to give you permission though. You've already used it several times without my consent."

"Slip of the tongue," Kylo dodged before cautiously asking, "Which do you prefer?"

Hux paused, seeming to truly think about the question. Those long lashes fluttered. "I'm not quite sure yet."

Kylo wondered if Hux's first name reminded the other of the man named Jekri. He frowned, finding the thought quite distasteful.

"I mean," Hux continued, seeming not to catch Kylo's sudden change in mood, "I think I would have to hear it a few more times before I can decide. No one has called me by my first name since…" he trailed off, fingers tightening on the datapad.

"Since Arkanis," Kylo completed for him.

Distant eyes stared back at him. "Yes," Hux muttered after a moment, "since Arkanis."

They fell silent for a while, Hux's fingers against the glass screen of the datapad the only sound in the room. Kylo wondered if he had said something he shouldn't when Hux finally spoke.

"Why Arkanis?"

Kylo looked away, feeling just a little guilty for prying through Hux's personal files while the other was asleep. "I thought you would want to visit your home."

Hux laughed lightly. "I suppose it has been a while." He fell silent, and Kylo skimmed the surface of the other's thoughts. He saw longing. A massive green ocean spread out as far as the eye could see.

 _"Armie…"_

Kylo tore his mind away, finding Hux looking at him suspiciously, head tilted to the side. He decided that the other looked quite vexing when he did that.

"Did you want to go planetside while we're there?" he blurted the first thought that came to mind. He cleared his throat when Hux's brows furrowed. "Uh I mean to say, you've spent so many years up in space, it might do you some good to walk on solid ground."

"Yes." Hux paused. "Yes, I think that would be a good idea."

He hoped he had made the right move.

.

The _Finalizer_ arrived at the blue planet and the refueling began, led mostly by Mitaka. Hux had given up helping after the lieutenant insisted repeatedly that he spent the day off.

"You haven't been back for a while, right? You should use the time to catch up," Mitaka had said. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. You've trained us well."

Hux sighed at the memory as he and Ren boarded the _Upsilon-_ class shuttle with a small entourage of stormtroopers. Even the phrase "a while" was a bit of an understatement. It was fast approaching two decades since he had set foot in the waters of Arkanis.

The descent went rather smoothly as they broke through the clouds towards the spaceport of Scaparus, and Hux spotted a collection of towering sharp buildings built to let the rainwater slip off of them, much larger than the small city nestled between the cliffs than he had remembered. He grimaced as they neared the grey city, a stark contrast against the green of the surrounding lands.

Arkanis had became a prosperous planet in his absence under the rule of the New Republic.

He recalled watching the men of his mother's village disembarking on their small boats on fishing trips whenever the rain lessened, their livelihood depending on such a dangerous trade that he had been taken aback by the luxuries the Hux family had been able to indulge in when his father had finally taken him away to the mansion.

The current capital city of Arkanis looked like a stranger to him just as his father's mansion did that first day.

The clouds parted above them as their ship descended, and the sea came into full view, it's clear blue-green waters a strange contrast to the gray city. The sunlight reflected off its surface, nearly blinding him as the shuttle approached the star port.

He remembered standing at the edge of a cliff as a small child, clutching his mother's hand as she pointed to the horizon on a rare clear day. Her words were lost to him, but he remembered sea green eyes looking into his with all the warmth of a mother's love for her child.

Hux blinked, wondering just how young he had been then before Brendol Hux had taken him away from that seaside village. The Empire had needed children, and he was the bastard child of one of their most prestiged.

He wondered if _she_ was alive somewhere in that gray city. He swallowed the thought thickly. What would he do if she was?

 _"Armitage…"_ The blinding reflection seemed to be calling him into its depths. He imagined himself sinking into the calm waves, encased in its warm waters.

 _The red of Starkiller shone before him, the same red that had struck Jekri point blank in the face._

Hux tore his eyes away from the ocean with some difficulty as he remembered the bright red reflection of the Hosnian System in the sky. He was Starkiller. It mattered not whether or not she was alive.

He noticed an intense gaze on him and saw Ren studying him in the corner of his eye.

"Nostalgic?" the man asked when he seemed to realized that Hux had caught him staring.

"It is rare for it not to be raining," he commented.

 _"Armitage…"_

He blinked. He had thought he imagined the voice earlier, but it seemed to grow even clearer now that they approached the ground. He looked around, searching for the owner. Something was calling him, something warm.

They disembarked with a small entourage of Stormtroopers. The people of the city made way for them, bowing their heads respectfully as they exited.

"Where do you want to go?" Ren asked him.

The corners of Hux's lips tightened involuntarily. "Why me?"

"It's supposed to be some time off for you, remember?"

Hux looked at the Stormtroopers. Even if he did agree to this ridiculous notion of a "vacation," there was no way the two of them could move around the city without being noticed.

"I'm not sure about this, Ren."

"Kylo," Ren corrected him.

Hux cleared his throat. "Kylo…" The name sounded foreign on his lips. "I don't really have a destination in mind. It's all changed."

Ren… no, Kylo seemed contemplative, his eyes darting to the inhabitants. The ones nearby bowed hastily as they passed, moving on their way a little quicker than usual. Fear was a powerful weapon.

Hux sighed, trying to dig up something from the depths of his memories so that they would not continue to stand there awkwardly as they have been doing for the past ten minutes. He suddenly thought of the village with its little huts and the men with the fishing boats and spears. He had not spotted it on the shuttle on their way down, but he still remembered the way.

"There was a place, but..." He looked at the Stormtroopers, a stark white against the gray of the city. Kylo nodded and dismissed them for the time being.

They boarded a droid-piloted hovercraft bound for the outer city after Hux had deposited his greatcoat and First Order cap back at the shuttle in favor of a poncho purchased at from the first store they came upon after exiting the main building.

"Are you sure you don't want one?" Hux asked Kylo as the droid powered up the vehicle.

"I'll be fine."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he told the other. Downpours in Arkanis always caught anyone off-guard, native or not. The weather here was unpredictable.

A wave of Darkness washed over him, a contrast against the warmth he had felt earlier. His eyes drifted to Kylo, who was staring vacantly at the passing buildings. It wasn't Kylo.

 _"You cannot run…"_ This voice as different from before, menacing, hungry.

Hux looked up, eyes darting around frantically as they sped through the city. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary though. It was just Kylo and the droid. He leaned back in his seat, trying to hide his grimace. Kylo should be keeping track of anything hostile around them, he tried to reassure himself.

The large gray spires began to become fewer in number as they exited the central city, and the hovercraft entered an area filled with ocean huts, remnants of the city's relatively recent history.

Hux let out a breath as they stepped off the hovercraft as the droid beeped patiently, indicating that it would wait for them to finish. He walked up to the ruins of one of the buildings, a tattered structure with only a few walls that remained standing. The people were long gone.

"You don't sense anyone here, do you?" he asked the other after a moment.

Kylo shook his head. "No."

Hux sighed, knowing that it was too good to be true. He wondered where the inhabitants had gone. Perhaps they had merely moved into the city, he told himself as he bent down and picked up a rusted fish hook, turning it in his hand. The air around him froze, engulfing him as if he were suddenly dunked into a body of water.

He saw a man before him, well built from years of fishing and eyes a brilliant green.

 _They had to run. The New Republic had come for the ones at the "Academy," and were taking everyone in the area in for questioning. It mattered not that they were merely people of this planet. If it was found that they were in any way involved, they will be arrested._

 _His sister was a janitor there. He had to protect her at all costs._

 _They had to run._

 _A woman ran up to him, hysterical, his childhood friend. She had deep blue-green eyes the color of the sea. He knew that she also worked at the Academy as a kitchen worker. She had had a child with the one they called Brendol Hux. He recalled that she had called the man a monster, that she had no longer been allowed to see her son._

 _His heart dropped at the thought as several ships took off into space from the nearby city._

 _"He's taken Armitage!" She pointed to the sky. "My son! He's taken him!"_

 _He hugged her in attempt to calm her down. They needed to run._

 _They needed to run._

Hux dropped the fish hook with a gasp, the image in his mind still as clear as the current sky.

"Any luck?" Kylo asked behind him.

He tried to calm his trembling lips. "I must have been mistaken. I should not have come here." He walked briskly back to the hovercraft, Kylo close behind. "We're going back to the _Finalizer._ "

"Wait, Hux," Kylo tried to stop him.

"Take us back," he ordered the droid as soon as he had made sure the both of them were on the hovercraft.

"Hux," Kylo repeated his name as the hovercraft flew back into the main city. "Talk to me." He grabbed his hand in an attempt to calm him down, but Hux only felt a sudden wave of Darkness wash over him like before. He held in his breath, trying to calm himself down. Kylo seemed to immediately sense the change and let go, eyes apologetic.

Hux let out the breath he had been holding. He didn't mean it. He wanted to apologize to the other, but he did not know what exactly he was saying sorry for. For pulling away?

He felt so pathetic; he could not even touch Kylo without freezing now. His bottom lip trembled, and his chest felt like something was mercilessly crushing it. He didn't want this.

He had no reason to fear the other.

"Kylo," he began, finding his voice.

"It's okay," the other interrupted before he could continue. "Please don't apologize. It's not your fault."

He leaned back in his chair silently, trying to ignore the knot that was building up in his chest, threatening to spill out.

.

Hux continued to stare blankly at the buildings as they passed through the city enroute to the spaceport. The other had been silent since their abrupt departure from the outskirts of the city, and Kylo pondered at how he could break up the tension.

He remembered the way Hux had froze under him again. Kylo sighed. He needed to remind himself to keep his hands to himself for the time being. He did think it was strange how the Darkness flared up in him the moment his fingertips touched Hux when he had not meant to summon the Force to his side. It was rather unnerving.

He gulped, pushing the fears to the back of his head.

"Do you want to get something to eat since we're here? I heard of a decent place earlier," Kylo asked, breaking the silence between them.

"When did you have time to ask?" Hux blinked before his face softened in understanding. "Oh."

Kylo flashed him a grin as he told the droid the new coordinates, knowing that Hux had deduced that he had gotten the information from the storekeeper's mind earlier as he was waiting for Hux to choose one of those strange looking ponchos.

Hux paused briefly before they entered the establishment, eyes darting wildly around them as if he were searching for an attacker. Kylo tried to keep his thoughts to himself as he allowed the other to reassure himself. He had been scanning the area around them with the Force for hostiles since they arrived on the planet, so he was fairly certain that they were safe.

He wondered if it was part of Hux's seemingly worsening paranoia. The man had done something similar earlier when they boarded the hovercraft too.

"Two bantha stews, and…" Ren's eyes scanned the menu, entranced by the slew of Arkanisian dishes.

"You'd want to order the tau-fish," Hux told him.

"The what?"

"Trust me."

Their food came in a timely manner, and Hux lifted his spoon to his lips, blowing lightly before taking a sip. Kylo tasted his own stew, reveling in the rich flavors. It had been far too long since he had eaten something other than ration bars. The tau-fish took a little longer to come, and the way Hux's eyes gleamed said it all.

The other caught Kylo watching him, and Hux swallowed a particularly large bite before taking a sip of water.

"How is it?" Hux asked, his ears turning slightly red at being caught indulging.

"Very good," Ren admitted, enjoying the subtle flavor in contrast with the bantha stew in addition to the almost childlike shine he had caught in the other man's eyes. "Is this like a staple?"

"My mother used to cook it all the time when I was young. It's reminiscent of her cooking," Hux explained after a moment.

"Reminiscent?"

Hux smiled meekly. "Hers was better."

Kylo found himself looking away, hoping that the other didn't notice the heat on his own ears. He had never seen the other smile like that. It was rather pleasant, he had to admit to himself. He took another bite of the fish.

He found himself wishing again that he had drawn out Snoke's death.

.

Hux left the diner feeling quite full and much calmer than before, he had to admit. He had not expected Kylo to make such a recommendation out of nowhere, and he supposed it did have its uses.

He took a deep breath of the moist Arkanisian air.

It had really been far too long since he had returned. He had known not to get his hopes up for the village, but he supposed he could settle for this small self-indulgence for now. One of his mother's people must have been the cook, so they were still alive, scattered throughout the city.

He half-wondered if he should have asked to see the cook, but it seemed like it would serve no purpose and only get his hopes up. Besides, he had already confirmed that, although the taste was similar, it was still not his mother's cooking. Hux closed his eyes briefly to collect his thoughts.

No, he told himself. He was not allowed to be that greedy. He had already messed up earlier when he had suggested that they visit the abandoned village.

Even if she were alive, he was no longer her son.

Then, as if the his thoughts had brought it to life, the Darkness returned, looming, hostile. Hux whirled around, trying to pinpoint its location. It crept through the shadows around them, breathing its decay as it closed in, ready for the kill. He was certain this time, even though he didn't know how.

There was someone following them.

Hux looked at Kylo, who seemed not to notice. It made no sense. He knew that Ren must have been scanning the area around them as soon as they stepped foot into the city. It was not like the other to be so negligent, and Kylo was strong in the Force. He remembered how it had surged when Kylo had grabbed him earlier.

Hux bit his lip. He knew there was nothing to fear from the other, but the feeling had been too much for him. It reminded him of Snoke.

The presence he sensed around them right now also reminded him of the man.

He paused, suddenly realizing why Kylo couldn't sense the enemy closing in on them.

The Supreme Leader was too much Darkness to notice his own kind.

He saw the blaster in his mind's eye before it fired.

"Look out!" He pulled them both to the ground as the bolt whizzed through the air above them, hitting one of the houses. The inhabitants screamed and began running, turning the entire scene into rampaging feet.

All he could think of was the Darkness around him, threatening to swallow him whole as he pulled into himself, unable to move.

 _Snoke's voice laughed in his head._

 _He was drowning in the ocean, pulled down its depths by an unseen force._

 _A ray of light cut through the Darkness, surrounding him._

 _"Armitage." The voice was gentle, soft._

 _But, he couldn't breathe. He couldn't. He-_

 _"Armitage, come to me…"_

.

"Hux?" Kylo gasped, flipping them over to shield the other. Another blaster bolt roared above them, spraying dust and rock into the air. He searched for the attacker with the Force but found only Darkness everywhere. Kylo looked back down at Hux, the pale green eyes glassy, the man hyperventilating under him.

He reached out with the Force, finding only a sudden empty fortress in the other's mind.

 _"It's okay. I'm here,"_ he coaxed the other. _"I won't hurt you. Armitage, please…"_

The general blinked, seeming to snap out of it.

"Kylo?" Hux managed to choke out with some difficulty. He immediately looked to the side. "Over there!" Hux pointed to a caped shadow disappearing behind a house. Ren lashed out with the Force, catching the figure in its tracks.

They ran over to the Force-frozen assailant, but the man merely bent over and crumpled to the ground, frothing at the mouth.

Hux grimaced, holding the wall of the building next to him for support. "Cyanide."

Kylo cursed, pulling out his comm to message the _Finalizer._ A rain of glass fell from his gloves instead, and he realized that he had smashed the device with his weight earlier when Hux threw them to the ground. He could sense the one in Hux's pocket vibrating.

"How did you find him so fast? The Darkness was cloaking him," Kylo inquired more than to himself than to the other as Hux took his own comm out, hands trembling around the object. Kylo didn't understand how he himself could have missed the sniper. He had been scanning the area for enemies since they landed.

Hux frowned, still obviously shaken. "I sensed him." The man shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know how..." The comm in the general's hands buzzed again, and Hux stared at it blankly as if he didn't know what to do with it.

Kylo admitted that Hux did look very pale. He had to get them back to the _Finalizer,_ and fast.

"I'll take it," Kylo held his hand out.

The general finally nodded and handed Kylo his comm, eyes still glazed over.

"We heard there was some commotion at the market. Are you okay?" Mitaka's voice echoed from the other side.

"We were attacked," Kylo replied, noticing the surprise on the other end on hearing his voice instead of Hux's. "My comm was crushed during the attack so I'm using Hux's. Don't worry. He's fine."

Or so he hoped, as he looked over to the general. Kylo blinked at the now empty wall before whirling around.

Hux was gone.

* * *

As always, thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

"Tell them to kriffing hurry up!" Kylo snapped into the comm as he paced around the body, having just sent his current location to the stormtroopers. He knew they were most likely heading over from the shuttle, but every extra second they took lessened his chances at finding Hux.

"They're already on their way, sir. What's going on?" Mitaka asked on the other end.

"Hux disappeared!"

"Wasn't the general just with you, sir?"

"Yes," he snarled. Leave it to Mitaka to point out the obvious. "Don't you keep a tracker on him or something?"

He could almost see the bewilderment on the lieutenant's face. "There's never been any need for that, sir."

The sound of footsteps saved Mitaka from any further inquiries, and Kylo set off as soon as he saw the first of the white armored plates around the corner.

"Tell them to take the body back to the Finalizer for investigation. I'm going to go look for Hux."

"Should I send a squad to go with you, sir?"

"There's no need," he replied. The streets were already beginning to look unfamiliar. "Have them search the city on their own. If they find anyone involved, kill them."

There was a pause on the other end. "Did you mean bring them in for questioning, sir? I do not think they will be useful to us dead, especially if they have the general."

If Kylo could Force-choke the other through the comm, he would have done so. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Hux would have been scolding him for his behavior already. He needed to start acting more like the Supreme Leader and less like a Knight of Ren.

"Yes, bring them in."

"Yes, sir."

Kylo began his search by skimming the minds of the citizens as he ran passed them. Hux couldn't have been kidnapped right under his nose; Kylo had practically been inches away. He wondered if the general had simply run away, spooked by their near-death experience. That was highly unlikely.

He never fancied the other a coward.

He recognized a few of the buildings they had passed by earlier on the hovercraft, but still nothing stood out to him, no glimpse of orange or that poncho the other had purchased. He reasoned that Hux couldn't have gotten far unless the man was kidnapped after wandering off.

Kylo felt his blood run cold at the thought and shook it away from his mind. He was going to find Hux and punish whoever was responsible for making him go through this wild goose chase. He blinked; he was back at the diner.

One of the stormtroopers saluted him.

Kylo stopped, knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere like this. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. There was one other possible option, and he began by steadying his breaths, sending his mind into the city in search for any signs of Hux's Force-signature. He had never attempted to look for another through this method, and he hoped that would he catch a glimpse, a memory, anything.

To his annoyance, he heard nothing but the muffled voices of the citizens of Arkanis going about their daily business. Kylo breathed and spread his mind out further. There had to be something, anything. He had to find Hux. He saw the possibility of rain, the latest catch of the sea, the attack on the Supreme Leader in the city, some missing shipment of bantha meat…

Still there was nothing.

He began to feel the panic creep into his mind, and he shoved it down, concentrating on his task. He will find Hux. He steadied his breaths and reached out further.

A love triangle involving the bartender and the best friend, today was the first sun of the week, bantha meat again… Kylo cursed.

He just needed a lead, something, anything.

It was then that he heard it: a faint, ethereal sound.

"Armitage…"

Kylo blinked. Something was calling the general, something inhuman. It didn't seem malevolent, and it almost seemed that it had let him hear its call.

He grimaced, setting off in the direction of the sound.

.

"Armitage…"

Hux walked through the streets in a daze, the sky darkening above him as the towering pointed buildings became scarce. He knew in the back of his mind that he was on the outskirts of the city now, away from the protection of Kylo. He should turn around, should head back. Where was Kylo?

"Armitage…"

"I hear you," he told the voice, a comforting warmth.

Something was calling him. Something warm and benign. It beckoned him. He tried to reason to himself that he needed to return. He needed to. Where was it that he needed to go again?

What was he doing here?

He can't seem to remember.

He was outside the city now, the old ruins of the Academy towering above him.

"Where…"

He turned away towards the ocean, his boots leaving the grassy hillside and sliding down into the fine grain sand of the beach. The waves licked softly at the land still, signs of a low tide as he walked alongside the ocean.

Hux remembered running across the Arkanisian beaches barefoot, his mother chasing him. He could see the Academy looming over the hillside, cutting the beautiful red and orange sunset like a knife that jutted out of the landscape. He had asked her what it was, and she had brushed it away from him with a story of the cave that sang nearby.

The cave. Hux blinked. He didn't remember any stories like that. He paused briefly, massaging his temple to clear his mind, except everything melded together in a blur. Why was he here again?

The cave. His feet were still moving despite his hesitation. The beach tapered into a massive cliffside lined with black rocks, slicked with ocean water previously from high tide. He jumped onto the nearest one and made his way through, using the exposed formation as a pathway around the cliff.

The cave. His mother had said that it would sometimes sing to those who could hear it, when they were most in tune with the Force. He supposed that she might have said something to that degree when he was young. He did not remember.

The mouth of the sea cave loomed before him like a hungry beast, large enough to swallow their Upsilon-class shuttle that awaited them back at the starport. He knew on instinct that in a few hours the sea would swallow the rocky foundation that he currently stood upon. Hux clenched his jaw and proceeded, the breaking waves behind him rhythmically spraying his poncho with mist.

His footsteps echoed on the damp rock as he walked deeper into the abyss, and it wasn't until the light from the entrance suddenly cut, dividing the rock into a gleaming black reflection and utter darkness, that he stopped. He took a breath, realizing just how deep he had wandered while following a voice of all things.

"Kylo," he suddenly muttered as an afterthought, the name cutting a clear path through his muddled thoughts. Nothing he was doing made sense, but his body continued to disobey him, lurching forward into the cave.

The voice no longer spoke to him; it now sang, tones echoing through the cave, encasing him in its embrace. He spotted a small trail of light up ahead from a crack in the ceiling and followed it. The song radiated from a bright light wedged between the rock where the sun hit it.

He reached out instinctively, and his fingers closed around a crystal.

Then, all was quiet.

He vaguely felt his body hitting the floor as his consciousness left him.

.

Kylo stepped carefully into the cave just as a wave surged in, covering the top of his boots before disappearing into the depths. He grimaced and began trudging through the foam. The water retracted back, and he broke into a run when the next wave came, just a little higher than the previous one.

Arkanis had two moons if he remembered correctly, and high tide likely submerged the cave. He knew that they would soon be underwater if he didn't hurry, given the force of the waves now.

With that thought, he proceeded into the darkness of the cave, drawing his lightsaber to light the way. The rocks were slightly less smooth here, but the water still touched his boots regardless as another wave entered the cave. He saw a small ray of light up ahead, shining from a crack in the ceiling, and under it he saw a familiar tuff of red hair.

"Hux!" Kylo extinguished his weapon and hooked it back onto his belt, using the ray of light to guide his way. The waves just barely reached the man, nipping at that ridiculous poncho before pulling out to the sea again.

"Hux! Hey!" He rolled the man onto his back and felt for a pulse, finding one, albeit weak.

"Hux!" he repeated, moving aside a stray strand of hair. The man's face was cold and clammy.

Kylo gulped, knowing that he had to move, that he should be getting the man out of this forsaken sea cave and into someplace warm as fast as possible, but his common sense was failing him, overtaken by a weight on his chest at seeing the other like this. "Hux, Armitage, wake up! Please…" he practically begged, remembering how he had spectacularly failed last time he used that phrase with Rey.

Translucent lashes fluttered, and pale green eyes stared back at him, barely lucid. The air around him suddenly swelled, the crash of the ocean waves against the rock outside quiet.

Kylo took in a deep breath, and the air seemed to shatter around him before sound returned to his senses. Those green eyes closed, and Hux became limp in his arms once more. A gleam from the man's hand caught the corner of his eye.

"That's…" he gasped, taking the kyber crystal from Hux. It's faint light still shone a brilliant white, and it glimmered slightly in his hand before a wave suddenly crashed into his side, nearly knocking him off balance. He pocketed the crystal and lifted Hux from the wet floor of the sea cave, the tide suddenly coming in full force. He shuddered, not wanting to know what would have happened if he waited any longer and the waters submerged the cave again.

Kylo rushed out of the cave, the waves washing up to his knees by the time he made it to the entrance. He moved nimbly across the jagged rocks, managing to make it to the sand before he saw one of the waves engulf the entrance of the cave, burying it.

He breathed out in relief and took out his comm, finding that the signal was dead. The sky above them rumbled, dark clouds covering the clear skies they had flown in to just hours earlier, threatening a downpour.

Kylo eyes scanned the beach as he realized that he was slightly lost, having followed Hux's Force signature blindly here. He cursed under his breath as he moved towards the spires of the city in the distance, the bundle in his hands turning colder by the minute.

"Over here," a voice called to him, and he turned to its source, an older man with brilliant green eyes, likely a native Arkanisian. He reached out with the Force, his senses hitting a small barrier before he could delve into the other's mind. The man was Force-sensitive. Kylo had not time for this nonsense. He grimaced and tried again, and this time he managed to skim the other's surface thoughts.

Worry. Guilt. A deep nostalgia.

The other seemed not to notice his attempt and instead beckoned Kylo to follow him. The sky roared again, and he could feel Hux shivering now.

He gritted his teeth and hurried after the stranger. He had his lightsaber and the Force if he needed them.

Kylo followed the man to the cliffside where a door suddenly jutted out of the rock, impressively hidden into the landscape. He hesitated as the man opened it with a code and took one step inside. A bolt of lightning shot across the sky.

"Please hurry. The downpour will start soon, and he needs heat."

He grudgingly followed the stranger in, finding a rather spacious living room furnished with wood and furs, dim light shining through glass windows likely camouflaged in the rock outside. The man beckoned him to set Hux on the sofa, and he finally stripped the drenched poncho off the general to replace it with one of the thick fur blankets the stranger procured. Kylo had to admit the garment did do its job; unlike himself, Hux's tunic looked relatively dry.

He heard another wave of thunder and then a sudden patter of droplets roared against the door and windows, complete with a gust of chill that seemed to permeate the walls.

Kylo sighed when the fireplace roared to life, sending a wave of warmth through the cozy living room before the stranger went over to the next room without another word and began tinkering with some pots. He preoccupied himself with watching the color return to Hux's lips, wondering what he would have done if the two of them did get caught in the downpour. He supposed he would have to have used his own body heat.

The thought sent an involuntary wave of butterflies through his stomach, and he barely noticed the man returning from the kitchen, offering him a steaming cup.

"Salted kelp tea. It will warm you up. I have messaged a transport to come take you back to the city."

"Thank you," Kylo replied, accepting it. He examined the contents, wondering if he should somehow check for poison. The man seemed not to notice his reservations, taking a long sip from his own cup.

Kylo brought the mug to his mouth, skimming the other's thoughts again.

He sensed the guilt again.

The man's eyes were on Hux, their deep green orbs far away.

"To be honest," the stranger finally spoke, "I didn't expect the Light of our people to still be protecting him after the Hosnian Cataclysm."

Kylo blinked. He had suspected the man was a native Arkanisian, but it was a surprise that the other knew Hux. The stranger's tone was quiet, almost sad, but his words obviously revealed that the man was a New Republic sympathizer. The lightsaber at his side shook ever so slightly as his thoughts trailed to it.

"There is no need," the stranger told him. "We take no sides in the war. The New Republic destroyed our way of life after all when they came here with their ships."

Kylo's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"You may call me Garik. Armitage's mother was a close friend of mine back in the years." The man who called himself Garik smiled nostalgically. "Looking at him now, he takes after her more than that monster Hux." Kylo heard the afterthought clearly in the air, "I suppose on the surface at least."

"He is not like his father," Kylo found himself saying, despite never personally meeting Commandant Hux. He had seen the Commandant briefly in Hux's memories, and they already told him all he needed to know.

On the other hand, Garik did not seem surprised that Kylo had read his thoughts. The Arkanisian leaned back in his chair, taking another sip of the steaming kelp tea.

"Children tend to take after their parents no matter how far away they try to stray."

Kylo chose not to reply to that statement, instead taking a much too large swig of the tea. He wondered if Hux would prefer such flavors; he knew the man did keep a tea stash despite the general's reliance on caf.

"The Caverns called him, yes?" Garik said after a moment.

"Is that what you call that place? It has a very strong presence of the Force."

The man smiled wryly. "We sometimes hear them singing, back when we lived in the village. It was rumored that people who venture in come out mad, plagued with visions of the Force. His mother followed their voices after Hux took Armitage away." He shook his head, eyes far away. "She was never quite the same."

Kylo's fingers shifted slightly on the cup. "What happened to her?" he decided to ask. He had a feeling that Hux had been searching since they arrived on Arkanis.

"She fell into a depression, saying she had failed him." The man nodded towards Hux. "I tried everything in my power to keep her here; there is nothing but despair waiting for us in the stars."

"So your people have never been to space," Kylo commented.

Garik laughed dryly. "We are one with the sea, young one."

Kylo flinched and steered the conversation back to Hux's mother, ignoring that comment on his age from the man. "Where is she now?"

"I failed," he replied simply.

"She left," Kylo concluded.

"Yes. To find him, I've always assumed. It seems that she has not yet succeeded, or you would not be here."

Kyle nodded in response, taking another sip of the tea. It really did warm him up, just as Garik had promised.

"So what will you do now, Ben Solo?"

Kylo froze, feeling the Darkness seeping out. A rumble of thunder outside resounded throughout the room, shaking the pewter and glass in the kitchen. He breathed out, the wave of the Force washing out from him relentlessly.

Hux moaned in his sleep, eyebrows knotting.

Kylo heard a hum and the Darkness suddenly retracted. It was the kyber crystal, he realized, and he resisted pulling it from his pocket.

Garik observed all this almost curiously. "Forgive me, you go by another name now."

"How did you find us?" Kylo asked him, brown eyes staring into those brilliant green orbs.

"The Caverns called to me. They've been quiet since his mother left, then today they suddenly just started singing again." His eyes trailed to Hux again. "Do not get me wrong. I…" Galik hesitated. "I am aware that I failed him. We all thought it was fine for Brendol Hux to take his son with him. We should have all tried harder to protect the child, but we just watched." He took another sip of that tea, no longer steaming.

"I might as well have caused Hosnian myself."

Kylo stared into those brilliant green eyes for a moment as their shine seemed to dull with the fatigue of guilt and years of hardship. Another crash of thunder followed by a droid beeping outside tore him away from those eyes.

Garik stood up. "Your transport is here." The man nodded to Hux. "He should be out of the danger zone for now. It is best that you take him back to your ship for proper treatment."

"Ah, yes," Kylo muttered as he placed the cup aside on the table and moved to take the blanket off Hux. The general still slept on peacefully, oblivious to the world as Kylo threw the poncho back over him, finding it already surprisingly dry. He looked up to see the man holding out a packet.

"Salted kelp tea for the road."

"That's…" he hesitated.

"I believe Armitage would appreciate the nostalgia."

"Thank you," Kylo managed, taking the packet from Garik and slipping it into one of the pockets of Hux's poncho.

Garik smiled. "I am glad the Light still burns around him. Please take care of Armitage, Kylo."

.

Hux was drowning in smoke, the world beneath his feet burning in a brilliant display of fire.

Hosnian Prime, he immediately thought, but the forest around him told him otherwise. It was far too underdeveloped to be one of the core worlds. He could see a star destroyer in the distance raining another wave of death upon the land, and screams permeated the air.

He reached for his comm in an attempt to spare them of this senseless slaughter, but his pockets were empty. He had forgotten that he had given it to Kylo.

A beam headed directly towards him, a fiery red against the sky.

Hux blinked. He was suddenly in the Finalizer, viewing the destruction from his usual place on the bridge, the star destroyer in the distance continuing its rampage.

It was one of their own.

Hux grimaced. He had spent his life on the stormtrooper program, had stolen millions of forsaken children away from their slavers, their lives in exchange for complete obedience to the First Order. And now they were recreating themselves, creating a new generation of orphans.

His eyes narrowed. No, not today.

"Fire."

The star destroyer before him went down in a sea of flames. An angry roar permeated the air around him, and his surroundings returned to its usual dark void where Brendol Hux resided.

"You have failed," he heard a voice, his father.

"No," he found himself saying, turning to the man. "I've just begun," the words seemed to spill from his mouth.

He was standing at the mouth of a cave, the ocean behind him whispering his name.

"Armitage…"

Hux woke with a start, his breaths heavy as the instruments around him blared to life. He raised a hand to shield himself from the blinding light as he heard a voice in the background.

"Lights 50 percent."

He sighed in relief, leaning back in the pillows as he heard a med droid beep happily around him, removing the monitor lines and blood pressure cuff. A familiar face loomed above his, her round glasses immediately giving her away.

"Dr. Andrienne," he acknowledged her. He blinked again, realizing that he was back in the medbay of the Finalizer. He hoped that this wasn't going to become a regular occurrence.

He remembered a cave, darkness, a light. "What happened?" he managed, trying to shake off the disorientation.

"You had a small case of hypothermia. Supreme Leader Ren found you quite promptly before there was any major damage and brought you back here. Under normal circumstances, you should have woken up much earlier, but of course that was not the case, which is why I am currently talking to you like this. Did you finish your fourteen days of rest as prescribed?" Dr. Andrienne asked him in one breath. He could make out Kylo coughing behind her.

The doctor shook her head indignantly. Hux wanted to scold her for her insubordination, but his mind was too tired to even formulate a reasonable plot against her. It was probably not a clever idea anyway given that he was currently under her mercy.

"I'll need to run a few more tests now that you're awake to make sure you haven't caught anything strange from Arkanis. It's highly unlikely though, given that you've grown up there."

Much to his relief, Dr. Andrienne dismissed him relatively quickly afterwards, and he found himself back in the comfort of his own bed just a few hours later with orders from the supreme leader himself to rest for another cycle before returning to duty.

He stared absentmindedly at the ceiling, unable to fall back into the sweet comfort of sleep now that he was alone. Kylo had not spoken much to him since he woke, having instead watched quietly from the side as the doctor fussed over Hux's sorry state.

To his relief, his door slid open and Kylo stalked over to the bed quietly, grimacing when the man realized that Hux was awake.

"I remember giving explicit orders for you to rest," the man huffed.

"Can't sleep," Hux replied, turning his head to face the other. "Why are you here?"

Kylo rolled his eyes. "Just checking if you were actually resting."

Hux snorted. "Well I'm trying, really. You took my datapad away, remember?"

The supreme leader sighed and pulled over the couch that Hux hadn't found time to move back from last time. He supposed that the other wanted some advice on their next move now that they had refueled, and he propped himself up to a sitting position, adjusting the pillows behind his back. However, his assumptions were far off as Kylo began the interrogation instead.

"Why did you leave without telling me? That was very careless on your part," the man nearly growled.

"I…" Hux's voice caught in his throat, and he coughed to clear it, trying to find the right words to explain. It was all a blur to him really, and the more he tried to remember the more none of it really made sense. He felt as if he had been possessed, only snippets of memories available to him. It terrified him, and he didn't want to think about it, had been avoiding the thoughts since he woke up.

Of all the things that he had control of in his life, it was his mind that he valued the most. To have lost it so easily in these past few cycles was terrifying.

Kylo seemed to sense his unease and slowly placed an ungloved hand over his. Hux looked down at the sudden warmth entwined through his fingers, trembling slightly at the touch when he felt a wave of Darkness leak out. Kylo frowned apologetically and made to pull away, but he caught the other before the supreme leader's grasp could leave his own.

The man's palm was callused, an artifact from years of holding a lightsaber. Kylo's heat radiated stronger than the Darkness, and the discomfort dissipated as quickly as it had come.

Hux let out the breath he had been holding.

"Don't be scared," Kylo told him. "I promised I'd protect you, remember?"

He smiled weakly. "I seemed to have made that a little difficult for you back on Arkanis."

"Well, you're safe now."

"I suppose I am." Hux closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I heard a voice," he began, trying once again to piece together just what had happened after he walked away from the corpse.

"Garik said the Caverns called to you. There was something in there that was strong with the Force."

Hux furrowed his brows. "Garik?" That name sounded so familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had heard it before.

"He… ah…" Kylo hesitated. Hux wondered if the man was deciding what to keep from him. It only made him even more curious. "He saved you from the cold after I found you," the man finally replied. "I followed your Force-signature to the cave, and then on the way back I realized I was lost just when it was about to rain."

"You got lost?" Hux snorted, prompting a glare from the other. He knew there was much more than that. He decided that he would prod Kylo on the matter later.

"It happens to the best of us," Kylo huffed. "Weren't you the one who was more lost?"

He closed his eyes, trying to remember the cave. "Yes, I suppose I was quite disoriented." It was still all such a blur to him. He remembered his feet taking him outside of the city past the Academy, and then there was the massive sea cave unearthed by the low tide. He had ventured inside following that so-called "voice" he heard and then…

His mind suddenly felt like it was going to split open as something clamped around his brain mercilessly.

His hands immediately went to his head, willing the wave of pain to go away. Kylo was up beside him in an instant, hovering over worriedly as he waited for the migraine to pass. It seemed to go as quickly as it had come, and he could make out something glowing under his hand before he had passed out in the cave, a crystal of some sort.

"Was I holding something?"

There was a pause.

And then, "Yes."

Hux looked at Kylo, eyes wide.

The man sighed and produced a small white crystal from his pocket, and Hux instantly recognized it as the one that had called him. It hummed lightly as he took it tentatively from the other, turning it in his hand to the light. The rock gleamed even in the dim lights of the room.

"It's a kyber crystal," Kylo told him.

"You don't have to tell me. I designed Starkiller out of these, remember?" He placed it slowly on the bedside table, the red glow of Starkiller suddenly fresh in his thoughts. He felt nauseous. Why had the crystal called out to him?

"Hux, look at me," Kylo's voice broke him out of his thoughts. The man hand cupped his face, tilting it towards those honey eyes. Hux's lips quivered. He didn't deserve this warmth, not after Starkiller, not after Snoke.

It was then that it happened again, the Darkness lashing out, angry. Kylo himself looked surprised.

"Yes, remember your place beneath me."

A wave of panic washed over him, and Hux jerked away, his veins turning to ice. He had heard Snoke's voice in his head.

It was Snoke. Snoke. Snoke.

.

Kylo felt the man's mind go blank again as the Darkness surged around them. He tried to reel in control of the Force, but it merely quivered and continued to spread throughout the room. He knew this was not normal, that he would never lose his reigns like this, but despite this he could feel his control slipping.

"You wanted to know the secret to power?" He heard Snoke's voice echoing through the walls.

Hux curled in on himself.

"Absolute control. Find a source of Light and collar it. Stamp it under your heel until it can no longer move. That is when you have absolute power." He could almost see Snoke's bemused wrinkled face before him. "Look at him, so weak. You can take him now, control him just as you desire."

He saw himself over Hux's naked form, the other limp under him, those beautiful eyes blank.

Kylo lashed out in anger, attempting to dissipate the Darkness, but it only grew with his passion. He knew it was coming from him, and that only he could retract it back into himself.

He grimaced and tried another approach, feeling the phantom Snoke in his mind back away in surprise when he called on the Light. It felt strange, to have to utilize it again after he had fallen to the Dark Side so many years ago.

The maneuver seemed to work as the heavy air suddenly lifted, and Hux took a deep breath, pale green eyes blinking slowly, as he were trying to wake himself from a nightmare. The man swallowed, those translucent lashes trembling as he attempted to speak.

"M-my apolo…"

Kylo held up a hand to stop him. "Don't."

He could feel the other's mind retracting again, and he reached out for the man's hand before stopping himself. Slowly, he reminded himself. He would have to take this slowly. He withdrew his hand, watching Hux's eyes follow them, the man's own hands folded tensely on the sheets.

"I'm sorry… I really do want..." he heard a small voice in his head, Hux's voice. Kylo looked up from the man's hands and saw green eyes wide with surprise.

He reached out slowly with his own mind, soothing the other's. He felt the Darkness surge again, but it simmered down as quickly as it had come, surprisingly calmed by Hux's presence in his own mind. Hux also seemed to be concentrating on the sensation, and Kylo leaned forward, his breathing shallow and careful.

"I want your warmth..." he heard the voice again. It was no longer the mere projections he had been catching before, but a timid yet concrete voice, as if their minds were connected and having an intimate conversation.

Kylo moved himself to the bed, feeling its weight give slightly under him. When Hux did not move, he reached over and slowly wrapped his arms around the man's shoulders before gently pulling the other towards him in an embrace. The Darkness flared again with the contact, but he suppressed it with the help of Hux's consciousness in his own mind.

Hux returned the gesture, circling his own arms around Kylo's waist carefully before tensing, unsure. Kylo immediately tried to pull away, but Hux held him close, unwilling to let him go. He let out a breath, relieved that Hux wanted this. With the Darkness now dulled to a soft smoke, Kylo reached out with his mind once more.

He felt the man's fear, loneliness, longing. Yet, the spark that had gone out long ago, that had been stamped out by Snoke and the Commandant Hux, was now shining.

It was hope.

Kylo heard a faint sniff and hugged the man tighter as Hux buried his face in his chest.

"Don't be afraid. I will teach you how to control it," he soothed the other. "I will protect you."

The flame in his mind's eye flickered and flared, content.

He understood now as he looked at the trembling form in his arms. The man had persevered even after years of torture and abuse, had been struck down again and again only to rise from the ashes again and again. Snoke had failed.

The Light. It was Armitage.

* * *

Thank you for reading! *hearts* *hearts*


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

 _"You cannot escape me."_

 _The voice echoed through his entire being in an attempt to engulf his consciousness in its web. He took it head on, lashing out just as violently, his power pulsating out like a raging fire._

 _He was not afraid of the Darkness._

 _He was still the one in control._

Kylo's eyes snapped open. He fought the urge to draw his lightsaber, his heart beating wildly in his chest as he scanned his unfamiliar surroundings. A plainly furnished room with a couch that looked out of place next to the bed greeted him along with a greatcoat peeping out from beyond the sliding closet door. His turbulent thoughts calmed at the familiar sight of red hair in front of him, its owner breathing softly along the gentle rise and fall of the sheets.

He remembered now. Hux had cried himself to sleep in his arms earlier, and the soft nasal breathing of the other had lulled Kylo into oblivion as well. He could still make out the red rim under the other's fine lashes in the dim light and wondered idly if the general was going to gripe about the inevitable swollen eyebags later.

He reached over to brush a few strands of hair away from the man's eyes, cupping the other's face in his hand gently. Kylo frowned slightly as he recalled the incident from the night before. He had brushed off the first few times as remnants of Hux's less than pleasant memories of the former supreme leader, but from what he had sensed yesterday, the man's Force signature was too pure to manifest something as tainted as Snoke. That only left one culprit.

Kylo himself.

He grimaced at the thought, knowing that something was definitely off. He could feel the Darkness festering under his skin even now where his fingertips, callused from years of holding a lightsaber, met smooth translucent skin, and he drew his hand away from Hux's face reluctantly.

He decided that he will figure out what was going on himself. There was no need to involve the general in any more of his affairs with Snoke.

Kylo hadn't trained for all these years just for his former master to control him like this.

He was the pure Darkness itself, raw and untamed.

.

Hux awoke to the sensation of his bed shifting, opening a heavy eye in time to see Kylo getting up. He stretched his limbs out to the now unoccupied side of his standard bed, much too small for the two of them to have fit comfortably the night before. A light crack in his back reminded him of such.

Kylo chuckled above him, and he blinked at the man with puffy eyes when the memories of the night before came flooding back to him. He had cried, no, openly bawled like a child in front of the supreme leader. The thought made him want to crawl back under the covers and disappear from the world. He couldn't even remember the last time he had cried.

He attempted to ignore the look the other was giving him as his barely lucid thoughts began drifting elsewhere.

No, he did remember. It was after Jekri's funeral, after Brendol had beat him senseless in another attempt to purge the sickening emotions from his mind, when he finally had a moment to himself in the refresher as he stared at the aftermath of the damage on his body, as the blood that dripped down the long gash on his back splashed softly on the white-tiled floor.

A soft nudge at the edge of his mind snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Rest a little more," Kylo told him. "I'm going to check to see if they have any updates on the investigation."

"Investigation?" Hux repeated the word, confused. He had heard of no recent "investigation" on the whereabouts of the remnants of the Resistance, although he knew in the back of his mind that they would have to start looking for them soon. He had seen the other's hesitation before in regards to General Leia, and he wished to forestall that inevitable meeting for as long as possible.

"Ah," Kylo seemed to notice his confusion before he even had a chance to ask. "I had them bring back the assailant's body from Arkanis. We might be able to figure out who sent him."

"I see," Hux replied, slightly relieved that his assumptions were off for once. He had to admit that it was a rather smart move on the other's part and was impressed that Kylo had even thought to do that while searching for him in an unfamiliar city. The thought almost made him smile. Almost. "I'm assuming that they should be almost finished by now, given how long I've been out?"

"That's my assumption as well." Kylo's dark eyes met his briefly before they trailed down to his lips. He could see the man take a particularly long swallow, and he suddenly remembered the kiss from a few days ago. To Hux's disappointment, Kylo seemed to catch himself in the act and compose himself. "Take your time. I'll comm you if they find anything of interest," Kylo said softly.

Hux reluctantly watched the other leave, the sound of the door sliding shut leaving him alone in the silence of his own room. He turned in his bed, drawing the sheets over his head. They were still warm from Kylo's heat and smelled of the man. He brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes, vaguely recalling the sensation of a hand cupping his face just before he awoke. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks at the thought. His breath hitched, and the warmth spread further down before an abrupt memory stopped it in its tracks.

Snoke.

Hux bolted up, nearly falling out of the bed when one of his legs got caught in the sheets in his rush to get to the refresher. He turned the temperature of the sonic as low as it would go, stepping into the cold water to wash all traces of the heat away from his mind.

The burst of chill calmed him instantly, and he rested his head helplessly against the wall, holding back the traitorous tears that had escaped without mercy the night before. He will not ask for more than what was given to him. Kylo had already offered him so much, and he refused to push for more.

He returned to the bedroom with a towel draped over his shoulders to fight the cold, finding the small kyber crystal still gleaming on the bedside table where he had left it the night prior. Hux picked it up, holding its light to his eyes as he slumped back onto his bed.

Something in him had caused the Darkness in Kylo to surge unnaturally last night. At first, he had thought that the strange happenings were due to his own weakness, manifestations of his own memories, but he had known for sure they were not his own creations when he reached out with his mind and found the lurking monster hidden within Kylo's consciousness.

The kyber crystal hummed contently in his palm. Hux shivered at the sensation.

It was all so foreign to him, and despite how the light in his hands offered a warmth to him, the entire sensation was terrifying. Only Kylo's mind, nestled against his own the night before, with all its Darkness, seemed natural, comforting, but something was happening with Kylo's control over it, and Hux was fairly certain that it was his fault.

His fingers closed carefully around the crystal, and he could see the slight tremble of his fingertips, betraying his attempt to accept the warmth that was given to him. He steadied his hand. He had to figure out how to control this, or he could potentially hurt Kylo with it.

Hux sighed, finally setting the kyber crystal back on his nightstand before drying the rest of his body with the towel. He threw it into the laundry chute, shivering at the cold as he put on a clean uniform. Hux opened his closet to grab his greatcoat for some additional warmth when he noticed a non-regulation poncho hanging next to it. Leave it to Kylo to not wash off the dirt, he thought as he took the item out and mindlessly shook it a little, dropping little pebbles and sand on his spotless floor. The cleaning droids would take care of that later.

He studied the article of clothing curiously, the only non-regulation piece he currently owned besides the black silk robe he had allowed himself to indulge on. He had bought it mostly on a whim down in Arkanis; he could have easily procured a waterproof coat from the _Finalizer_ before they had gone down planetside, but he had wanted to bring something back from his homeworld. It was a childish act, now that he thought about it, buying things he didn't truly need.

It was then that his eyes trailed down to the bulging pocket. He didn't recall buying anything else on Arkanis during their short visit besides this garment, and they had definitely not found time for Kylo to go shopping either. Hux hesitantly reached in and pulled out a package, his eyes widening with recognition as he peered into its contents.

"Salted kelp tea," he muttered under his breath as he turned it around his hands. "But how?"

As if in response to his question, a faint memory washed over him, soft and gentle against his mind.

 _"You really shouldn't go today. It might rain," a man with brilliant green eyes muttered to his mother, but she merely waved at the other dismissively._

 _"It always rains even when you say it won't. You worry too much, Garik."_

 _She turned away from her best friend to him, smiling._

 _"Come now, Armitage."_

He blinked, nearly dropping the bag. The brief visions were definitely going to take some getting used to.

Hux gritted his teeth and deposited the package on the nightstand next to the kyber crystal. He paused briefly when he heard the hum again, and he sighed, slipping the kyber crystal in his pocket before leaving the bedroom. He had wasted enough time recovering from his ordeal on Arkanis. He did feel slightly guilty for abandoning the tea in his room, but he'll drink it later he decided, when they didn't have this blasted assailant to worry about, after he had asked Kylo about just how the other had acquired it.

To his surprise, his datapad greeted him on his desk in the small living room. One of the droids must have dropped it off while he was showering, and he silently thanked Kylo for finally allowing him back to his work. He picked up the device and scrolled through several hundred messages disinterestedly as he waited for his caf to brew, taking a bite out of one of the tasteless ration bars to fill his stomach for the time being.

The caf itself was a welcome relief, its familiar aroma filling his nose as he sipped it gingerly. His eyelids still felt much too heavy, and he had to push away the sudden urge to swipe a stim from the medbay. With Kylo watching him this closely, it was likely not going to end well if he were to go through with that plan.

A sound indicated a new message from Mitaka, and he opened the communication, satisfied that the lieutenant had the commonsense to give him the location of the autopsy room.

The rest of the caf went down fairly quickly, and after another futile attempt to lessen the swell under his eyes with cold water, he covered the mess with some concealer and headed out to the location Mitaka had specified.

He wanted to ask Kylo about the meeting with Garik. There was still a chance he could find _her_. Hux's hands tighten at his side as his step slowed to his usual pace.

Was he even allowed to look?

A shred of doubt flashed past his mind as the door slid open to the autopsy room minutes later. He found Kylo already there, hands crossed as one of the droids turned to Hux, the assailant's blaster presented on its arms.

"Hux? I told you that you could sleep some more," Kylo muttered indignantly, but the supreme leader should have known this would happen the moment he got his hands back on his datapad.

"I have rested quite enough, thank you." Hux's eyes trailed to the blaster, immediately fighting down his urge to ask Kylo about Garik as he pulled himself back together. They had more pressing matters at hand at the moment. "Did you find anything of interest?"

"The blaster was set to stun," the droid told him.

"So, they weren't planning on killing us? Probably wanted to take a hostage to use as leverage against the First Order." Even as the words left his mouth, he felt like that there was something more to all of this. If their enemies had wanted to take a hostage, they would have sent much more than one man with a blaster set to stun.

"Perhaps," Kylo said, eyes contemplative.

"That's not all," another voice made Hux look up. He was surprised that he had failed to notice Mitaka's presence in the room, his eyes having instantly found Kylo when he entered. The lieutenant gulped, fiddling with one of the datapads.

"He's one of ours." Mitaka held out the screen for them, and Hux peered over Kylo's shoulder at the photo, a much younger image of the pale blank wrinkled face of the body on the autopsy table. "SC-1998, supposedly currently stationed on the Dominion."

Hux narrowed his eyes. The fact that this man was here now only meant one of two things. Either one, he had defected alone and went after them on his own accord, or two-

"Have you contacted the ship?" he asked when Kylo did not offer any suggestions.

Mitaka looked down. "Well that's the thing. We've sent multiple encrypted messages, but there hasn't been any response."

Kylo cursed beside him. Hux supposed that he should be happy that the supreme leader was holding up so well. They really couldn't afford too many complicated repairs with their budget after the loss of the Supremacy.

"Send out a message at once for all ships to report back with their locations. I want every single one of them accounted for," Hux ordered, feeling his stomach drop at the implications. They should have done this the moment the Dominion did not respond, but he couldn't fault the other. He was fortunate that Mitaka had even gotten this far.

"Yes, sir!" the lieutenant saluted and rushed off.

Hux could sense Kylo seething next to him. The man let out a shaky breath, likely still trying to stop himself from destroying anything in Hux's presence. "Do you think it's a mutiny?"

Hux approached the body, swallowing the lump of uneasiness in his throat. "It is too early for assumptions. He could be only one defector after all." His eyes trailed to the blaster the droid had placed back on the workbench. It bothered him to the end of the universe that it had been set on stun.

"There are those from the older generation who are more than likely to grab at power at the first chance they get," Kylo commented, pacing around the body.

Hux watched the other's movements warily. "You mean from my father's circle."

Kylo nodded, dark eyes staring into his intently as he stopped next to Hux. "You know, I've always wondered…" the other trailed off before looking away. "No, I shouldn't make you say it."

Hux blinked, knowing exactly what Kylo was implying. Everyone had always suspected the same. "You think that I killed him."

"I've heard rumors," Kylo admitted.

"Many suspected that I did." He averted his eyes, wishing even more now that he had committed the act with his own hands. If he had only stabbed Brendol, the way he had heard Kylo killed Han Solo, then perhaps he could offer some kind of connection to the other. As it was, he still had absolutely nothing to give to Kylo despite everything the man had done for him.

"Did you?"

He felt his heart twist at the hopeful glint he saw in the other's eyes, and he shook his head. "It was Snoke."

The revelation seemed to cause some confusion in the other, and to Hux's relief, it appeared to have replaced whatever emotion the man was feeling before. "Why though? Wasn't the commandant one of his highest-ranking officers?"

Hux bit his lip, taking a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke.

Kylo must have noticed the change and immediately raised his hand. "Like I said, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

He shook his head. It was all in the past he told himself. There was no reason to hide it. "Snoke had seen the scars on my back and asked if I wanted my father dead. I thought he was joking. I did keep silent, but the next thing I knew, Brendol just suddenly collapsed during one his meetings in front of everyone. I might as well have killed him myself by just existing."

Kylo regarded him for a moment before asking in a small voice. "Do you regret it?"

He chuckled self-deprecatingly. "What's there to regret? Nothing changed after my father's death. Snoke had already set himself up as Brendol's replacement after all. We're all the same, all grasping for control of our lives, of the lives of others."

He looked back at SC-1998's corpse, imagining a young boy taken from his home to be fashioned into one of the stormtroopers of the First Order. "For the greater good," he had always justified to himself when he started the program alongside his father. He wasn't so sure anymore. "Look at me. I've pretty much grown up in my father's image. I destroyed an entire system for control." He looked back up at those expressive eyes. "I don't understand, Kylo. Why are you…" he could not say the words.

 _"Why are you so kind to me?"_

 _"You are not your father, and I am not Snoke,"_ he heard an answer in his head and took an involuntary step back at the sensation.

"My apologies, I didn't mean to project myself like that," he muttered hastily.

"I don't mind," Kylo whispered, taking a step towards him.

 _"Your presence is calming."_

Hux snorted. He felt as if his recent thoughts have been anything but calm.

"So how exactly are you going to teach me to control this?"

Kylo seemed contemplative, eyes falling back briefly on the body before returning to Hux's. "We can have a session now while we wait for Mitaka's report," the man offered.

Hux eyed the covered body on the table with distaste. "I'd prefer to change locations."

"Good idea."

He found himself following Kylo to one of the many viewports of the Finalizer, this particular one empty at the moment. "I like coming here to meditate," Kylo admitted out loud even without Hux asking.

"I see." Hux wondered idly if that was why the room was empty, not by chance but by the plain fact that the other had frequented this place so often, the other staff knew now to avoid it. Kylo motioned for him to sit, and he grudgingly obliged, draping his greatcoat over one of the railings before making himself comfortable on the hard durasteel floor, sitting cross-legged facing the expanse of space beyond the viewport. Kylo sat down next to him, their shoulders just inches shy of one another, so close that he could faintly feel the heat radiating from the other.

"What do I do now?"

"Close your eyes."

Hux raised an eyebrow at the other before obliging, attempting to calm his breathing as he tried not to think about the warmth next to him. He still had not asked the other about Garik, and to be honest he wasn't sure what he wanted out of the conversation. They were still relatively close to Arkanis, and he was certain that Kylo would allow him back on the planet if he asked, but for some reason he doubted that she was there. And, if he were to meet this man named Garik, what would he say?

He was no longer one of them. He was Starkiller.

Hux's breath hitched.

"Stop thinking so much," Kylo's voice interrupted his raging thoughts like a calm wave. _"Reach out and just breathe."_

He honestly had no idea what Kylo meant by those words. He could manage the breathing part just fine, so he focused on that instead, matching their breaths together as he concentrated on the darkness on the back of his eyelids instead of the man named Garik. He found the activity quite calming after a few minutes. It was just him and Kylo breathing softly with nothing but the distant hum of the engines around them.

For a moment, the expanse of the large empty room suddenly felt much more intimate, almost like a part of him.

He felt Kylo next to him, a raging entity of Darkness that simmered at the edges, mixed in with a glow that drew him in just as beautifully. Then there was the vastness of space itself before him, empty yet so full of something that he couldn't quite put a name to, something that was neither friendly nor hostile.

Everything just was.

A warmth in his pocket brought him back to the current room, and he recognized the familiar humming again from the kyber crystal. It was warm, powerful, and for a moment he felt as free as the wind that blew over the seas of Arkanis in his youth.

It was then he felt a surge of the Darkness again, flaring up to meet him.

He realized it was from Kylo.

Hux's breath hitched, and he fought to control the sensation. Kylo wouldn't hurt him he told himself. The man was not Snoke.

With this thought in mind, the air seemed to calm, and everything felt at peace, a balance.

He sighed contently at the sensation.

 _"It's so strange,"_ he heard Kylo's voice in his head.

 _"What is?"_ he replied, focusing on the connection between them.

 _"I'd always thought the Light was too bright, but you…"_

He almost laughed at the idea. Someone like him couldn't possibly be the Light.

 _"But you are,"_ Kylo insisted.

 _"That's highly unlikely. Everything must seem like Light to you in that case."_

 _"No, Armitage. You are the Light."_

He could feel himself flush at those words. It was preposterous that someone like him could possibly have any "Light" left in him. He was General Hux of the First Order, Starkiller, the son of Commandant Brendol Hux...

 _A boy named Armitage taken from the seas of Arkanis..._

A sound from his datapad interrupted his thoughts, and he had to blink a few times to readjust before he stood up and grabbed his datapad from his greatcoat. Mitaka's panicked expression greeted him on the screen.

"Report," he barked, still disoriented from the session.

"Sir, we've found something disturbing. Please hurry to conference room 5!"

He looked at Kylo, who gave him a nod.

.

Kylo trailed behind Hux as the two of them entered the room to find Mitaka fiddling with the holoprojector in the middle of the large table.

"What have you found?" He had honestly been expecting a verbal report about the other star destroyers, but instead of a visual of the other ships, Mitaka connected to the HoloNet and pulled up several blurry holograms into the space above the table.

"You'll understand when you watch these, sir."

His eyes widened at the scene before he could scold the other for interrupting his session with Hux with some ridiculous HoloNet gossip. "What is the meaning of this?" he breathed out.

The images playing through the projector were filled with static, but he could still make out a familiar figure cloaked in black armor. It advanced on a young man running through the narrow streets, most likely a civilian judging by the clothes. The man reached what looked like a dead end and raised his hands up in defense, the air around him seeming to shudder before a random storefront sign flew at the cloaked figure from off screen. The shadow ignited its weapon, and a red beam sliced the projectile in half before its owner continued to advance on the man, undeterred by the other projectiles thrown at it.

There was no sound, but Kylo could almost hear the victim's screams as the red lightsaber ran the man through.

The shadow turned briefly to the camera and all became black.

The image switched to another location and this time it was a woman, likely a bounty hunter with the way she expertly held her blaster, her shots deflecting strangely through the air towards another shadow with slightly different armor than the first, who blocked them effortlessly with another lightsaber gleaming red. The figure raised its arm and the woman froze, dropping the blaster and clutching her throat. The end result was the same as the first.

Finally, there was a third with a boy running through the streets, a shadow approaching towards him. Kylo looked away.

"How many of these have surfaced?" Hux inquired, his pale green eyes unreadable as he watched the remaining hologram expressionlessly.

"Four of them in total. The only similarities are the red lightsabers and black armor," Mitaka answered.

"The Knights of Ren," Kylo finally breathed out.

"And the victims are all Force-sensitive," Hux noted, peering into the last holo of an elderly male twi'lek. Kylo looked at the redhead briefly before finally turning back to the projections, surprised that he did not notice that detail himself. Hux was right, though. Each one of the victims in the holos had the same surge of the Force around them before they were killed.

The assailants were masked, but he recognized every single one of them. He knew they had been sent away by Snoke on some random missions before he was stationed on the Finalizer, and this was not the way he expected to meet them again. Kylo gritted his teeth in frustration. He should have checked in with the Knights the moment he took the throne from Snoke.

"I will go and attempt to contact them," he declared, turning around to leave.

"Kylo."

He turned around to see pale green eyes peering back into his. Hux seemed to have surprised himself with the gesture and swallowed.

"Be careful," the general mouthed.

He nodded, feeling a slight warmth tingling in his chest before he whirled around and left the two to carry on with the investigation.

Kylo entered his temporary office several minutes later and pulled out his datapad, recalling the personal codes of the six other knights. Four were already accounted for in the holos, and it was most likely unwise to contact them if they were under the direct orders of another entity.

He hesitated for a moment and then sent out comm requests to the two remaining Knights he had not seen in the holos, hoping that he had made the right decision in trying to reach them. To his surprise, a return message came only seconds later, requesting for a video comm. He took a deep breath and accepted the invitation.

"Ky- I mean, Supreme Leader," Igniv Ren's unmasked countenance greeted him, the long side bangs the other loved keeping styled to perfection even under the mask now hanging limply against the man's grit-stained face. He noted that the other had lost weight, once gleaming purple eyes sunken and rimmed with red. Igniv had never had a very imposing figure even back in their days at the temple, and the man looked even more like a skeleton now than ever.

"Kylo is fine," he told the other, relieved for the moment that at least Igniv was alive and seemed to still possess his own will. "Snoke is dead."

Igniv shook his head wildly, his eyes darting about like a madman's. "He lives, Kylo. The others heard him."

Kylo froze at the revelation, recalling his own encounters the past few days. "He spoke to them?"

Igniv nodded. "All five. They listened to his call, went to him… He has taken over their minds. I know not how." He finally ceased his tremors and looked away, ashamed. "I resisted, but I was not strong enough to save them. They've been searching for me. I can sense it."

Kylo bit his lip, pondering through his options. He didn't sense deceit in the other; Igniv's emotions had always shown clearly on the man's face despite the man's quirkiness. "Where are you now?" he asked after a moment.

The man looked at him pleadingly, and he knew that Igniv did not want to say it, lest Snoke was listening.

"Never mind, come to me."

Igniv's eyes lit up for a second before the knight caught himself. "Are you sure? You would go against Snoke?"

"He's no longer my master. It's time you made the decision for yourself as well."

Those dead eyes seemed to glow again with fresh life as the corners of the Knight's lips turned up in a small smile. "My life is yours, Supreme Leader. I will come to you."

"Kylo."

Igniv cleared his throat.

 _"Kylo, be careful. He's coming for you next if he hasn't already."_

"A little too late for that," he growled to himself after the channel shut off.

He paced around his room impatiently, trying to calm his seething rage and his need to break something. He had sensed no menace from Igniv, but there was no telling what the others were doing. He also needed to relay the information to Hux. The general was likely already planning an array of countermeasures to deal with the missing star destroyer. He still hoped it was just one.

The fact that Snoke was still somehow able to project himself through the minds of the other Knights also gave him no solace. If what Igniv had said was true, then the attacks he had been experiencing was truly Snoke's doing. He gritted his teeth, frustrated that he had let his former master get so close to Hux without him knowing.

A familiar sensation flowed over him, and he stopped his pacing, redirecting his anger towards the newcomer.

"So, you've finally decided to let me back in?" He called over to the girl behind him before turning around. He found his anger immediately dulling at the sight of hers, radiant through even their peculiar Force-bond.

Her hands were shaking, balled into fists at her side. "You attacked Maz," she snarled, eyes flashing with hatred.

"Huh?" Of all the things Rey could have accused him of- Who was Maz?

"Why are you doing this?" Rey demanded, not noticing his confusion.

"Doing what?" he countered, figuring that he might as well try to get some information from the girl, deducing that she had specifically contacted him for the same purpose.

Before he could continue on with his plan, he heard the office door slide open and inwardly cursed. He had told no one about his previous meetings with Rey, and he feared the fact would only push Hux away from him.

"Kylo, there's been another…" Hux stopped mid-sentence as he approached Kylo, his eyes scanning the room suspiciously.

Kylo gulped.

"Is someone there with you?" Rey asked as she peeked around him. Kylo's breath caught in his throat when he saw both parties' eyes widen.

"You..." the girl snarled in a way that reminded Kylo very much of their first meeting through the Force. "You're Starkiller."

"Wait, Rey," Kylo began, but Hux held up a hand. He could sense the wheels turning in the general's head, trying to figure out if Rey was truly there or if she was a mere hologram.

"It's fine, Kylo," he muttered.

 _"She's not really here, is she?"_ Kylo heard in his head.

 _"No,"_ he admitted.

Rey did not seem to be able to hear their internal conversation and instead continued on her rampage, now directing all of her rage towards Hux. "You ordered the deaths of millions and now these public executions? When will you ever be sated?"

"The last victim isn't-" Hux composed himself as quickly as his outburst had started. He took a breath and continued. "It's true, I gave the order to fire Starkiller. I won't deny it." Kylo watched the other's eyes narrow, fascinated by how quickly and efficiently Hux had gathered his own emotions into a bundle and locked them away. "But what's happening now, I can assure you that we have nothing to do with it. We're as perplexed as you are."

 _"I suppose you were in the middle of trying to get information out of her, correct?"_

 _"Yes,"_ Kylo replied, thankful that they could communicate silently like this even in the middle of his own Force-bond session with Rey. He turned back to the girl, ready to continue on his previous objective.

"Liar," she hissed before Kylo could say anything. He turned to Hux helplessly, but the other kept a steady gaze on Rey. He could still make out a slight tremble on the other's lower lip.

"I suppose that would be an expected response, given what I've done," Hux replied after a moment.

This seemed to switch something on in Rey as her gaze softened slightly. "You feel guilt," she stated to Kylo's surprise.

"Does it matter if I do? Starkiller happened regardless," Hux said quietly.

 _"She doesn't seem to know anything about the attacks."_

 _"So it would seem,"_ Kylo replied.

 _"If you don't mind, supr- Kylo, I think it wise to throw her a bone."_

Hux did not wait for Kylo to give the okay before continuing. "You came to him for information, correct? The latest victim, Maz Kanata, is still alive. I suggest you go to her immediately."

 _"Are you serious?"_

 _"Yes."_

Rey's eyes narrowed again. "I'm not falling into your trap, Starkiller," she hissed.

Hux shrugged, seeming to contemplate his next words. Kylo could sense the turbulent wave of emotions threatening to break through the man's defenses every time Rey said, "Starkiller." He decided that he would take it from here.

"Hux," Kylo crossed the room to the other when the general did not reply, but the Darkness flared out just as his fingers touched the other's hand. Even Rey sensed the change and immediately whirled around, looking for the source.

Snoke's voice echoed through the room.

 _"You dare bite the hand that fed you, rabid cur?"_

Hux's eyes rolled back, and Kylo barely managed to catch the man and pull the Darkness back. He saw Rey, her hand outstretched in an attempt to help, and their eyes met briefly before Snoke's presence finally dissipated again. A crack signified that their session had ended. He turned his attention back to Hux, relieved to see the shallow rise and fall of the man's chest.

Kylo knew now. Snoke was not dead, and the beast had somehow latched onto his own Darkness, ready to devour the man in his arms at any signs of weakness.

* * *

As usual, thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Hux opened his eyes groggily to an unfamiliar durasteel ceiling as he came to. He noted that the lights were much too bright to be his room and the object below him much too hard to be his standard-issue bed. Yet, he still instinctively rolled onto his side, suppressing a yelp as the artificial gravity nearly claimed his body before he righted himself the last minute on what seemed to be a couch.

A shadow was beside him in an instant, and it finally registered in his mind that he was in Kylo's temporary office. The man in question currently hovered over him, brow furrowed in concern.

"How are you feeling?"

It also suddenly occurred to him just why everything was so warm and comfortable. Kylo had removed his greatcoat and draped it over him like a blanket. He tried to ignore the heat that rose to his ears at the thought of the man undressing him, and he sat up, fighting the wave of nausea that swept over him.

"Just a little dizzy," he decided to admit as the room only continued to spin. He looked to Kylo, trying to concentrate on the moles on the man's face. "What happened?"

He vaguely remembered telling the scavenger girl that the latest victim was still alive, from what he could tell on the latest broadcast at least, and then Snoke had somehow interrupted their conversation.

Snoke.

It suddenly all came back to him.

 _"You dare bite the hand that fed you, rabid cur?"_ The memory echoed loud and clear in his mind. His body instinctively shrank away, trying to disappear between the cushions of the couch.

Kylo reached out to him with a gloved hand before stopping abruptly, the man's lips drawn into a thin line as he opened and closed his mouth, seemingly unable to find the right words. Hux already knew what the other was thinking and decided not to draw this out any further as he eyed the hand longingly.

"It was Snoke, wasn't it?" he whispered, feeling the familiar shiver make its way down his spine when the name left his lips.

"Yes," Kylo admitted quietly, those beautiful expressive eyes looking away. "I didn't expect him to manifest like that."

"What do you mean?" This was all beginning to pan out much worse than Hux had thought. He had originally assumed that he was the one who was causing all of these strange outbursts of Darkness from the other, but as always, it seemed like things regarding the Force were not meant to be so easily explained.

The supreme leader took a long deep breath, eyes focused on the stars outside the ceiling length window. "He's somehow taken control of five out of six of the Knights of Ren. I have been suspecting that he's been trying to encroach into my mind as well the past few cycles, and well, you just saw one of his attempts first-hand."

Hux regarded this information for a moment as he tried to ignore the chill that had already proceeded to spread through the rest of his body. "I suppose it was too hopeful on my part to assume that he had been killed so easily."

"Sorry," Kylo muttered.

"Stop apologizing. It's not your fault. If anything, it's mine." Hux rubbed at his temple, trying to regain control of his senses. His mind still felt quite muddy from the recent episode, and he needed it functioning in full capacity. He had to keep it turning, had to keep it from freezing over with fear. "It would explain the missing _Dominion_ and the defector if Snoke is somehow behind all of this. What of the last Knight? You've managed to contact him I presume?"

"Yes, Igniv Ren is making his way to us as we speak," Kylo replied.

This gave him a little hope, a small light at the end of the tunnel. "Maybe we can get some answers from him."

"I hope so too," Kylo agreed.

Satisfied that they had some sort of plan to work off of, Hux made to stand up only for a gloved hand to force him back down.

"Kylo," he warned, finally finding those dark eyes staring into his once more. He yearned for them, yet they were not his to take. He had made that decision already.

"You need rest."

"I need you to let me do my job," he said through clenched teeth.

"But you just passed out!"

"That is exactly why I need to do this!" he snapped, his voice louder than intended. Kylo fell silent, an indiscernible expression on the man's face. Hux looked away, feeling his ears burning in embarrassment at the outburst. He could still hear Snoke's voice echoing in his head before he lost consciousness. The familiar helplessness radiated through every fiber of his being, and he grasped at reality with a new surge of determination, his heart pounding up to his ears. "Never again," he whispered, hands clenched in his lap.

Large warm hands covered his hesitantly, the surge of Darkness restrained just under the surface. He peered into their owner's eyes, those expressive eyes he had come to yearn for so much. He wanted so much to look away, to let go of the clenching feeling in his chest, but instead he held his gaze and fought the urge to lean in.

As if he could sense his thoughts, Kylo closed the distance between them and captured his lips in a kiss, effectively turning off the remaining traces of Hux's neural function as he found himself leaning into the other with a desperation he had barely been able to keep under the surface. His body longed for this warmth. It needed it. Pure instinct took over even as his lungs began to ask for air, taking and taking from the other until his mind had quieted to nothingness. No hands grabbed at him, no cold swept over him, he was simply surrounded by a warmth that he had forgotten long ago, buried by the memories of Snoke and his father and pulled roughly back into reality by Kylo.

There was a name to this sensation, he remembered, a word that he had not allowed himself to entertain in his vocabulary since Jekri's funeral, something Snoke had made sure to mutilate during his many years of servitude under the former supreme leader.

 _"Kylo…"_ he reached out through the bond, unsure of what to do when the familiar panic began to spread through him like wildfire at the thought of Snoke. He yearned, wanted, but he did not feel ready. At the same time, he wanted to shrink away, to disappear into a little black hole where no one could see the taint smeared upon his body.

He felt something akin to a caress in his mind respond, calming him.

 _"It's okay,"_ he heard Kylo in his thoughts. _"We'll take it slow."_

 _"I'm not used to you being this patient,"_ he projected back after a moment.

 _"I can be patient if I wanted to be,"_ the man answered, and he felt Kylo smiling under him at his incredulity at that statement.

 _"It would have saved me quite a few headaches if you had decided to do that from the beginning."_

He could almost hear Kylo laughing in his mind.

They finally pulled apart, gasping for air, and Hux watched those lips longingly, already missing their warmth.

"We'll get through this," the other reassured him, a silent promise of things yet to come.

Hux nodded, his heart pounding in his chest for a completely different reason now. Kylo still wanted him after all of this, was still willing to give him- oh stars, he did not know what to think anymore. A ping on Kylo's datapad snapped him back into reality, and they both turned their heads to the desk.

He nodded to Kylo and watched as the man stood up almost reluctantly, separating from him to pick up the datapad left on the table. An unfamiliar voice greeted them from the other line.

"This is Igniv Ren, requesting for landing permission, supreme leader."

"That was fast," Hux commented. Kylo only smiled wryly.

Hux found himself in the shuttle dock just minutes later watching the ship's door lower with a hiss, sending a wave of compressed air through the hangar. The Knight had arrived much earlier than he had expected, and he found himself more anxious than usual given his initial impression of the Knights of Ren in the form of the man currently standing next to him. They really couldn't afford repairing any more counsels at this point in time. A shadow stepped onto the ramp, cloak flowing behind it as it walked towards them.

Igniv Ren was tall, the Knight's height just an inch shy of Kylo's, but the muscles were much less defined under loose fitting robes. He noted the lightsaber that hung at the Knight's waist, designed with the usual single blade unlike Kylo's crossguard lightsaber. Then to his surprise, the Knight removed his helmet, revealing a grimy face rimmed by matted black hair that shone with the faintest purple tint in the artificial light.

"Welcome aboard the _Finalizer,_ " he said to Igniv Ren, finding himself staring into a pair of bright purple eyes.

Igniv Ren bowed gracefully. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"O-of course," Hux nearly started at the man's cordiality, completely different from his and Kylo's first encounter. He cleared his throat in an attempt to also clear his mind from that particular less-than-fond memory. "You arrived earlier than anticipated. We're still finishing up with the rest of the fleet, so there should be some time before the debriefing."

The Knight's face immediately relaxed as the man let out a sigh in what appeared to be relief. "Thank the stars. I can't wait to get to a sonic. Oh, and I guess water. And a ration bar or two would be much appreciated."

Hux blinked, not expecting the other to actually voice his humanly needs so openly. Kylo had really been an enigma back then. "Right," he found himself shrinking under the other's unwavering eager stare. The Knight noticed something behind him and immediately bowed, finally breaking eye contact.

"Supreme Leader Ren."

Kylo motioned for the Knight to rise, looking a little uncomfortable at the gesture.

 _"Your general smells strongly of the Light, Kylo."_ Hux heard the echo of the Knight's voice in his head.

 _"You are not to touch him, Igniv,"_ Kylo answered, his words like a sharp knife.

 _"I can take care of myself just fine, thank you,"_ Hux interrupted them, feeling the annoyance boil in him. Forget Igniv Ren's peculiar nature for a Knight of Ren, the last thing he needed now was the two at each other's throats.

Igniv blinked at him, eyes gleaming with fascination. _"And you are Force-sensitive! Amazing! Truly amazing!"_

 _"Igniv, calm down,"_ Kylo warned, his thoughts now more exasperated than annoyed.

"Yes, sir." Igniv slinked back like a scolded child. "Um…" He turned to Hux, his demeanor now complete submissive. "Could I use that sonic?"

Hux sighed. "Yes, let me show you the way. Normally Lieutenant Mitaka would do it, but he's busy at the moment."

"I'll escort him," Kylo said hastily, stepping between them.

Hux looked at him.

 _"You have some things you still want to go over, right? And I know you don't trust him enough to let him go off on his own yet."_

 _"But Kylo, as the Supreme Leader-"_

Kylo cut him off before he could even finish the thought. _"I don't want anything happening to you if I made a miscalculation on Igniv."_

Hux huffed, fighting with himself to not cross his arms in front of the Knight and giving away their internal conversation. "We will be meeting in Conference Room 5 in exactly one hour."

Kylo threw him a slight nod before leading Igniv away, the Knight seeming to have not overheard their conversation.

.

"Hmm, that one is strong," Igniv commented as soon as the elevator doors closed in front of them. "He heard our conversation even when I was explicitly trying to only talk to you."

Kylo flashed him a glare, prompting Igniv to throw up his hands in defense, grinning.

"Relax, I'm not here to steal away your precious general. Your reaction was quite entertaining though."

Kylo cleared his throat to change the subject. He had not seen the man for a few years now, and he had nearly forgotten the other's tendencies to jest at whatever was in front of him. It really was a miracle how Igniv Ren had survived this long. "You've lost quite a lot of weight," he decided to comment instead, steering the conversation away from Hux.

The Knight's eyes narrowed. "Happens when you're being chased by five of the people you've grown up with. If I had met them head on even once, I'd be dead by now."

Kylo hesitated, wondering if he should even mention _him._

Igniv seemed to catch his unease. "Feel free to say whatever's on your mind. I'm past caring about _him_."

"Skaara Ren turned as well?" he tested the waters cautiously regardless.

Igniv looked away. "Yes, even him. That traitor's always been more invested in the Darkness than anything else." The man's gaze dropped to the ground for a moment, eyes far away. "Probably even moreso than you," Igniv added, playing with his hair airily. "He was the first to go after me, you know. Thought he could gain the upper hand given our past."

Kylo shifted uncomfortably. "How did you escape?"

Igniv shrugged, suddenly looking very uncharacteristically tired. "I've never trusted Snoke. It also helps that my tracking abilities are top-notch. I found the _Finalizer_ in record time, didn't I?"

Kylo sighed. "Yes, you did." The elevator came to a stop and they exited to the corridor leading up to the Knight's assigned room. He really did consider themselves lucky that Igniv hadn't turned, although he knew that Hux wasn't completely sold yet. To be truthful, a small part of him was still cautious. If he was wrong, and Hux got hurt because of his decision to take Igniv in, then he didn't know what he would do.

They reached the designated door and he turned to the Knight. "Here we are."

Igniv seemed to sense his unease and met his gaze straight on, purple eyes as clear as he had always remembered them. He had always wondered if the other would have willingly converted back to the Light if ever given the chance. Igniv had always stayed away from the messier aspects of the Knights, volunteering for the more mundane tasks such as searching for ancient Sith texts and the such despite the man's outward demeanor.

"Hey, I've followed you this far. I'm not backing out now, Kylo," the Knight assured him, grabbing his hand and placing it against the man's greasy forehead next to those long bangs. "Read my mind if you have to."

"Go wash yourself up already," Kylo scolded him, giving him a half-hearted nudge on the shoulder instead. "I'll come back to get you in forty minutes."

"What about water?"

"I'll have a droid bring it."

"And the ration bars?"

"Droid," Kylo growled, suppressing the urge to wipe the grin off of the man's face as Igniv cackled and disappeared into the room.

His irritation only mounted fifty-five minutes later as he paced impatiently in front of the Knights room. The door finally slid open, and Igniv stepped out in fresh black robes they had found in the man's size and hair as fluffy as he remembered it.

"Took you long enough," Kylo growled as he began walking away.

The Knight hurried after him, munching on a ration bar. "Hey, I haven't had a sonic for days!"

"I didn't need to know that. Hurry, or Hux will have your head if we're late."

"Why just mine?" Igniv whined.

"Because I'm the Supreme Leader."

"Oh yeah! I forgot."

They reached Conference Room 5 in record time with only a few seconds to spare. The door slid open, and he could almost sense the impatience radiating off of the general as the two of them entered.

Mitaka stood on the other side of the desk seemingly distracted by whatever report that he had compiled together for them. He also noticed Captain Peavey standing to the side, shifting uncomfortably at his arrival although he made no note of the man. Kylo supposed it was only proper for the other to attend as well.

 _"Oh! That one is a looker too!"_ He suddenly heard Igniv's voice in his head, the Knight's attention directed towards Mitaka. He could hear Hux cough. _"You are truly blessed the Supremacy went down, Kylo."_

 _"Igniv…"_

 _"Sorry sorry. The less concentration I have, the less I can feel Snoke's call."_

Kylo grimaced.

 _._

Hux could almost sense the lieutenant's nervousness increase three-fold under Igniv Ren's gaze as the man swallowed hard and turned on the holoprojector, enlarging the 3D map until it focused on one of the planets located in the Mid Rim. Hux recognized it immediately.

Mitaka cleared his throat. "The good news is that we've actually managed to track the _Dominion_ to Takodana," the lieutenant announced, although his nervousness did not reflect any relief as far as Hux could tell. "And I guess that's the end of the good news, really," the man added meekly.

"You _tracked_ them?" Hux inquired. They hadn't captured the ship prior to lightspeed, so there was really no "tracking" involved, per say. He noted to correct Mitaka's word choice later.

The lieutenant noticed his mistake instantly and cleared his throat again. "That is, we have received visual confirmation from several sources matching the description of the _Dominion_."

"But why Takodana?" Kylo muttered.

"That's where Maz Kanata was attacked," Hux recalled, grimacing. "They're likely there for extraction once they finish the task."

"Well, that's the thing." Mitaka sank under his gaze, but the man continued on regardless. "They've declared war on the planet."

The room fell silent.

He imagined the planet burning, its lush lands engulfed in flames. He suddenly thought of Arkanis under siege by the New Republic, of his father dragging him away to the shuttle, away from the seas that called to him for many years after until he learned to ignore their voices in the emptiness of space.

Captain Peavey was the first to speak, snapping him out of his reverie. "What the hell are they thinking? The First Order shouldn't be making such a public display of aggression against a planet for something like that, not when we've just lost the _Supremacy_. Just what is going on?"

"I did not order the recent attacks, if that is what you are implying, Captain," Kylo commented, eyes focused on Peavey. Hux would have reveled in the sight of his father's old acquaintance shrinking away on any other day, but instead he glanced at Kylo in the corner of his eye, feeling the cold continuing to crept through his veins.

 _"Is it because I told the scavenger girl that Maz Kanata was still alive?"_

 _"It's too early to assume that,"_ Kylo replied.

 _"But Snoke heard me say it, right?"_ He could feel the panic building in him. This was his fault.

 _"Hux-"_

Hux took a breath, composing himself as he turned back to Mitaka. "What of the other ships? Have you gotten a response from them?" He turned to the lieutenant when the other didn't answer. "How many ships defected?" he decided to reword his question.

"It's not that they've defected, sir," Mitaka finally replied, the slightest tremble on his lower lip. "We've actually been able to make contact with all of them except for the _Dominion_ and three other star destroyers. However, they seemed a little uneasy given the current situation."

"Mutiny?" Captain Peavey asked.

Mitaka was beginning to turn pale, his eyes darting over to Igniv.

"It was said that the Knights of Ren boarded the _Dominion_ and took control of a few squadrons of stroomtroopers before they opened fire on the bridge. The other ships managed to receive the distress call before it stopped broadcasting. It's implied that the entire leadership of the _Dominion_ has been slaughtered by their own men. Everyone's on edge, sir. They fear that they would be next, fear that some would turn even without the presence of the Knights."

Hux cursed under his breath, finally understanding Mitaka's unease now with Igniv in the same room.

"And the _Finalizer_? _"_ He could see Captain Peavey turning pale on the other side of the display, eyes also straying to the Knight.

"You need not worry. I don't sense any abnormalities among the crew here," Igniv Ren spoke up pointedly.

"How can you be sure?" Captain Peavey asked.

"Please don't question my skills, Captain," Igniv emphasized the man's title with a little sarcasm. Judging by the wide grin that had made its way across the man's features, the Knight seemed to also enjoy the sight of the officer shifting uncomfortably. It was at that moment that Hux decided that Igniv and him could actually be on amicable terms, assuming that the man wasn't going to turn the entire ship against them in their sleep.

"You can relax, Captain. I don't sense anything, either," Kylo added, gaze concentrated more on him than Peavey. Hux supposed that this was Kylo's way of reassuring him that Igniv was to be trusted.

If anything, Hux supposed he couldn't sense anything either, not that he knew what he was looking for to begin with. "Please don't spread any unnecessary rumors of our esteemed guest, Captain. The First Order doesn't need widespread fear choking its new flagship as well."

Peavey nodded, seeming to grudgingly fall silent.

 _"Hey, say thanks to your general for me…"_ Hux could hear Igniv's voice in Ren's head. He looked back to the display, the echo of the Force in his head still very strange to him.

.

Kylo decided to announce a break to discuss their options, giving Mitaka a well-deserved break before the man fainted from nervousness and leaving Peavey to the man's own devices now that he was sure that the older Captain knew nothing of Snoke's plans. He supposed he should be relieved that that particular part of the First Order still had the sense to follow him.

That just left Hux and Igniv in the conference room now, the former currently staring at the projections, likely thinking about Mitaka's report. He might as well take the time now to see if Igniv had any intel on was going on.

"Before we make any decisions," Hux was the one who spoke first but stopped just as abruptly. The general looked at him almost pleadingly, uncharacteristically unable to finish the sentence. It was then he realized that the other didn't want to say anything unnecessary lest Snoke was listening.

Kylo felt an ache in his chest at the general's unease. He had promised the other that he would protect him, but at this rate he wasn't sure if he could even protect Hux from the Darkness festering in himself. "I do feel him in the back of my mind, trying to take control," he decided to admit.

Hux nodded slowly, and he wanted to go to the man's side, to reassure the other that everything was still within his control.

"Yeah, me too," Igniv added a little too casually for his liking.

"So does that mean he's watching our every move?" Hux seemed to have decided to complete the thought, and he could the wheels starting to turn again. Kylo always did marvel at the general's ability to appear calm despite the raging thoughts that he could sense at the surface of the man's mind.

Igniv shook his head. "To my understanding, as long as you keep him at bay, he is unable to take control of your mind or listen in on your thoughts. If that weren't the case, the others would have found me when I was in hiding."

That was good news, Kylo supposed. "That's why you wouldn't tell me where you were," he suddenly realized. "You knew Snoke was trying to talk to me as well."

The Knight nodded guiltily. "Forgive me, Supreme Leader. I had to make sure." He sighed, stroking his chin as if deep in thought. "So, Snoke really has already spoken to you then," he muttered. "From my experience, he can only manifest when the mind is at its weakest. I'm actually surprised that he was able to control so many people at once on the star destroyers."

"He must have used all five Knights," Kylo reasoned.

"They just need enough of the crew to take out the leadership and the rest would follow blindly," Hux explained. "They've been well trained," the general added quietly, more to himself than anyone else. Kylo frowned, knowing that the other was referring to the stormtrooper program. This was likely one occasion that blind loyalty was not something the other would have wanted.

Igniv seemed to be staring at Hux quite oddly.

"By any chance, did you hear him too, General?" the Knight asked before Kylo could stop him.

"Yes," Hux replied without hesitation, pale green eyes meeting the Knight's.

Igniv stroked his chin as if deep in thought. "And does it only happen when it's with Kylo?"

Hux seemed to think for a moment, likely trying to separate the actual incidents from his own nightmares. "If my memories serve me well, then only once."

"When was that?"

"Before Arkanis," Kylo muttered. "And then after that, it was only whenever I was there…"

Igniv raised an eyebrow, purple eyes gleaming. Kylo still did not know where the other was going with this, and he moved a little closer to Hux instinctively.

"What happened on Arkanis?" the Knight inquired.

Hux looked to him for permission, and he nodded, giving it. The general hesitated before reaching in his pocket and removing the kyber crystal, its soft white still gleaming as brightly as Kylo had remembered it.

Igniv grinned, his eyes glistening under the light of the kyber crystal.

"I thought I sensed an awakening, but I did not expect it to be you," the Knight said, his voice low with something akin to reverence.

Kylo blinked. "You sensed an awakening?" If Igniv sensed it from all the way out there, then there was no telling who else had felt the call.

"We all did. You must have not noticed since you were so close to him already."

It all made sense now. "Maybe that's why Snoke's going around slaughtering Force-sensitives."

"Perhaps," Igniv muttered.

"Wait, what does my little incident on Arkanis have to do with any of this? It was the kyber crystal that called to me, not the other way around," Hux interjected, obviously confused. Kylo had forgotten that the man still had much to learn.

"Aw, don't blame it on the rock, general. It is simply a catalyst for your power. You must have had the Force all along. It was just asleep in you. Speaking of which," he looked to Kylo. "You are planning to have him build a lightsaber, right? It'll probably help with his control over the Force."

"Of course," Kylo replied, annoyed that the other would think him that incompetent a teacher.

Hux cleared his throat. "We have more pressing matters at the moment. And for your information, my blaster works just fine."

"Not against someone like Kylo. Have you seen him stop a blaster beam in midair? It's quite the sight." Igniv pointed his finger in the air, mimicking a gun.

Hux frowned, his uneasiness unfortunately only egging Igniv on.

"I'm assuming you're not accustomed to slicing people in half?" the Knight asked, grinning.

"Igniv, we'll talk about this later," Kylo intervened before the man got too into it.

The Knight backed off, bowing his head. "Of course." The man looked back at the holographic map, still settled on Takodana and an image of the missing _Dominion_. "So what's our next plan of attack? This could all be a trap, after all."

Kylo looked to Hux, finding that the other had put back on his usual expressionless mask. He could sense the wheels turning at full power again, much like a well-oiled machine. He still did not know what he wanted to do himself. Igniv was likely right about this being a trap, but at the same time he felt that they would lose something very important if they decided to sit back and do nothing.

"Well, regardless on what you two decide, I'm starved. I'm going to go grab something to eat," Igniv announced, seeming to notice the sudden uncomfortable silence the two of them had fallen into. "Meet you guys on the bridge in half an hour?"

Kylo nodded silently and the Knight left with a wave.

"He's a perceptive one," Hux finally spoke after the door closed behind the Knight.

Kylo sighed. "So, what do you think?"

Hux continued to stare at the screen, its soft light reflecting off his pale green eyes. "I suspect it is surely a trap. But, do we let another planet burn, or do we fight our own?"

"Snoke controls the _Dominion_ now. They are our enemy," Kylo reminded him.

Hux chuckled, his voice a little broken as he sat down on one of the chairs, cradling his head in his hands. Kylo still did not know where the other was going with this and waited patiently for the other to explain.

The general seemed to find his voice again after a moment and looked up. "I designed the stormtrooper training program. We took children from worlds in the Outer Rim that would have otherwise been sold into slavery, offered them freedom from their fates in exchange for loyalty to the First Order."

Kylo blinked. "You're worried about the crew of the _Dominion,"_ he put the man's worries into words.

"I pulled them straight out of the grasps of one abuser into another."

Kylo knelt down, careful not to touch the general lest Snoke decided to manifest at this moment. "Hux, this is not your fault."

"Are you going to continue that line of reasoning by saying that Starkiller was not my doing as well?" the other returned.

Kylo bit his lip, knowing where Hux was trying to go with that line. However, the general merely shook his head. "What is it that you want to do, Kylo?"

Kylo thought it over for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "Rey might also be heading to Takodana as we speak."

Pale green eyes pierced into his. "Then you'd best contact her."

He tilted his head to the side, trying to discern the expression the other was giving him now. "I don't understand. Don't you want the Resistance destroyed?"

"Not by Snoke's hand." Hux turned his gaze to the stars outside. Kylo thought the other suddenly looked very tired.

"I'm going to head to the bridge," the general announced, standing up. "I think you'd have an easier time talking to the girl if I wasn't there." He was halfway to the door before Kylo could react. "Half-an-hour, right? I should also make sure that Igniv doesn't get lost."

Kylo nodded and the door closed behind the general.

Hux had not even spared him a glance back.

Kylo sighed, now alone in the conference room with just the holoprojector to keep him company. He closed his eyes and reached out with the Force, wondering if it was even worth the effort. It was only by chance that Rey had been the one to contact him last time, and that was when she was desperate for information.

 _"Rey? Can you hear me?"_ he attempted regardless.

She came to him quicker than he had expected and in full force and fury. _"Just what do you hope to accomplish by doing this, Kylo?"_

 _"Don't go to Takodana,"_ he said simply.

 _"You sure change your mind quickly,"_ she spat. _"If you think-"_

 _"It might be a trap."_

Those wide eyes blinked at him, confused. _"Why tell me that now?"_

Kylo grimaced, wondering how much information he was allowed to share with Rey. Hux had not given him any explicit concerns before the other had left, and he was suddenly struck with the urge to tell her the truth. He supposed that this was one of those times that trust had to go both ways. _"We've lost contact with the Dominion. Snoke might be commanding that ship."_

 _"Nice try. You killed Snoke."_

 _"He's not dead. I can…"_ he hesitated. _"I can still sense him. You sensed him last time too when he attacked Hux."_

A flurry of emotions crossed the girl's face as she fought with herself on whether or not to believe him or not. To his dismay, she grasped her resolve again.

 _"I'm still going to Takodana. Maz is in trouble. If you don't agree with what your ship is doing then do something about it, Supreme Leader."_ She cut off the link, leaving the sting behind as Kylo stared blankly at the space before him.

Well that didn't work at all, he acknowledged as he stepped out of the conference room, finding Igniv just outside, the Knight holding a half-eaten ration bar in one hand an a cup of caf in the other.

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Just got back. I felt a surge of the Force, and your dear lieutenant was kind enough to show me the way back here instead of the bridge." He bit off another piece of the ration bar. "Made up your mind yet?"

Kylo nodded as the two of them set off to the bridge silently. Igniv remained thankfully silent along the short walk, the man's constant chewing the only sound that accompanied their footsteps. He found Hux already there, staring into the depths of space beyond the large windows.

 _"Did you manage to convince her?"_ Hux asked him, not bothering to turn around as he approached the other.

 _"No."_ Kylo grimaced, wondering if this was what Hux had expected all along. "Have you decided what to do?" he asked out loud, his voice soft.

 _"I've already made my decision from the beginning."_

Hux turned to look at him, eyes set and unwavering, their intensity nearly taking his breath away. This was the general, he realized. Despite everything that had happened the past few weeks, Hux was still fundamentally the same. The man had not climbed to the rank of general riding on the coattails of his father. No, Hux had clawed his way up, destroying anything that got in his way in his quest for control of his own life.

Except, now there was barely anything left in the way. Only Kylo. And perhaps Snoke, but they will deal with that menace together accordingly.

Kylo stepped aside and nodded, an unspoken agreement whispered between them. Hux's gaze softened for a moment before the man walked past him to the middle of the bridge, back straight with the aura of a general blazing around him. He could sense the man's resolve radiating off the other like a bright flame.

"Set a course for Takodana. Comm the other star destroyers to meet us there. We will teach the traitors what happens when they defy Supreme Leader Ren, Knight or not."

Kylo could hear Igniv's laugh in his head.

 _"He's a keeper."_

 _"Shut up."_

* * *

As usual, thank you for reading :D


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Maz tightened the bandage on her arm as footsteps echoed on the dusty stone floor of the alley outside. She let out a breath as panicked whispers followed, the sound of their owners' unease calming her nerves. Her attacker had projected many emotions during the chase. The shadow had reeked of exhilaration, bloodlust, anger.

 _Darkness._

Fear was not one of them.

She turned her attention to the woman across from her currently peering outside through the cracked window, a strand of her savior's chestnut hair peeking out from under the hood. After a moment, the woman finally stepped away with a soft sigh and nodded to Maz.

"He seems to have left the planet. I do not sense him anymore," the other announced, a rather strange way to word it, Maz noted.

The woman didn't feel like a Jedi to her, and Maz had seen her share of them during her long life. Yet, her savior was definitely Force-sensitive, especially given how the other had somehow gotten both of them away from the Knight earlier. She narrowed her eyes, peering into the darkness under other's hood in an attempt to see the woman's face.

"Who are you?" she found herself asking despite herself.

The stranger removed her hood, revealing streaks of gray through the soft brown hair. Maz reconsidered her initial assumption of the other's age. Still, the woman must have been beautiful in her younger years; even now the other's alabaster skin reflected off of a clear complexion outlined by just a few wrinkles from age that had begun to set in.

The woman seemed to have caught Maz's staring and smiled, sea green eyes twinkling. "Worry not. I am with the Resistance."

"Ah, so they sent you?" She felt herself relaxing. They might still be in quite a bind, but the thought of help gave her much needed hope.

The woman broke her gaze momentarily, eyes averted. "Not quite. I just happened to be on the planet when the attacks started happening."

Maz raised an eyebrow before a knowing smile spreading across her features. The Force always did have its way with circumstances whenever it sent people to her. "Just happened to be, huh?" Intentional or not, this Resistance fighter had still saved her life.

The other returned her smile. "To be truthful, I was actually searching for you for a different matter, but it seems that would have to wait now, given our current situation."

Maz snorted, pleased that the other proved to be as patient as her age suggested. "Agreed." Static echoed from the woman's comm, and the other took it out from her pocket, tapping the old object slightly before it connected.

"This is Kaiyo. I am glad to hear that you've received my message."

Maz was certain that Kaiyo was just a codename, but she wasn't one to judge. Given their occupations, she was surprised not all members of the Resistance used aliases to begin with. The color suddenly drained out of Kaiyo's face, the other's initial warm smile at the comm giving way to parted lips as whatever the person on the other line had said left her speechless.

"Is everything alright?" Maz asked, unable to take the anticipation any longer.

Kaiyo turned to her with wide eyes. "They've already arrived."

"That's…" Maz could not find the words to finish that sentence, too appalled that the declaration had not been a ruse after all. Why would they target an entire planet just for her? It made absolutely no sense. She gulped and collected herself quickly. They had little time to spare now that the enemy was here. "Then it's time we started moving," she declared, getting to her feet. They weren't going to burn down her planet, not while air still flowed in her lungs. She ignored whatever Kaiyo was trying to say to her and stormed out of their hiding place. The Knight was gone anyway, and they had a battle to prepare for.

She began barking orders to her clientele as soon as she reached the castle, it's walls still under construction after the last First Order assault. Leave or fight.

Kaiyo followed her wordlessly the entire time, eyes trained to the sky above where a massive star destroyer loomed just above the atmosphere. The Knight had likely returned to its massive hull in light of his failure. Just before Maz decided to tear her gaze away to return to her work at hand, three other ships came out of hyperspace, much smaller in comparison but intimidating nonetheless.

Maz narrowed her eyes, immediately reconsidering her decision. Forget fighting, she had to get as many of them out before the barrage of fire came.

An explosion in the waters next to the castle told her that even that plan would likely end in failure.

Kaiyo grabbed her hand and immediately took off, leading her to the forest as another beam struck the shore across the castle, lining the horizon with fire once the flash dissipated.

"We need to get to my ship!" She tugged Kaiyo in the opposite direction, but another explosion did all the convincing for her as she allowed the other to lead her away from her destroyed ship and burning city.

They ran through the rock-littered floor of the forest, the fire around them already starting to tear through the lush vegetation. Maz could hear some of the ships take flight and hoped that they would be able to escape, but the familiar roar of a TIE fighter dashed even that flicker of hope as shots rang through the air. She dared to turn around at the sounds in time to see another ship struck down as it attempted its escape. This was no invasion.

It was a simple massacre, the Hosnian Cataclysm all over again. They had watched in helpless horror when it had happened, had stood by and watched when the Resistance had retaliated, had continued to watch when the remnants of the last remaining opposition to the First Order called out for help from Crait.

And now, the entire universe was doing the exact same to them.

Her steps slowed to a stop, causing Kaiyo to turn around in a panic. "We must hurry!"

Maz shook her head, falling to her knees. "It is hopeless now." They had no ship, no allies. Only death rained from above.

"No, it is not. The Force will not let you die here!" Kaiyo declared, eyes flashing. "Listen! She is coming!"

"No one is coming, Kaiyo."

"She is!" Kaiyo insisted. All Maz saw was a TIE fighter headed straight towards them. She smiled, accepting that this might as well be the end. She did feel bad that she was not able to help Kaiyo with whatever the woman needed, but such was the way of life.

At that moment, the TIE fighter exploded in midair, shot out of the sky by a familiar ship, her dear old friend the _Millennium Falcon_.

She gasped, her eyes returning to the skies above as another star destroyer materialized out of lightspeed above, its size matching that of the largest.

"No! Rey!" It made sense now. This had to be a trap to lure out the last of the Resistance, and she had led the enemy right to them. She turned to Kaiyo to warn the other in hopes of having the woman convince Rey and the others to leave, but the other looked as if she were in a trance, eyes fixated on the star destroyer fleet above.

.

"General, we have verified that the _Harbringer_ and the _Conqueror_ will be meeting us at the rendezvous point."

"Very good." Hux had expected as much. The two vessels were part of the escort of the destroyed _Supremacy_ , and he had made sure to maintain contact with their captains after the fiasco at Crait in light of Kylo's takeover, mainly to raise morale within the crew after witnessing such a massive blow to their forces. It was wise move on his part in retrospect. "Do we have confirmation of how many ships the enemy forces have at Takodana?"

"Four, including the _Dominion._ The other three appear to be _Imperial-_ class star destroyers."

"Likely the ones that didn't respond earlier," he muttered.

"What of the other ships?" Captain Peavey asked.

Mitaka shook his head. "We haven't heard from them, sir."

"Kriffing cowards," the older officer hissed.

"You don't seem surprised," Kylo commented softly next to him.

Hux almost snorted out loud. "Why should I be? I didn't expect them to show up in the first place." If he were captain of one of the common star destroyers himself, he would watch the spectacle from the sidelines until his leaders could come to a consensus, especially if one who was supposed to have died was suddenly alive again. This was Snoke they were going against. If anything, he was surprised more hadn't shown up in Takodana. He supposed he should appreciate the fact that their enemy seemed to lack rigid military training.

Fear was not a weapon one used when one was in want of loyalty.

"Then why even ask them to come?" the current supreme leader asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

He met Kylo's gaze pointedly. "So, they'll know to watch." He looked to Mitaka, the latter standing at attention. "Ready all cannons and target the _Dominion_ when we drop out of lightspeed. Fire when I give the order."

Kylo huffed beside him. "Shouldn't we be targeting all of them?"

"A star destroyer isn't designed to be manned without their officers on the bridge. From what Igniv has told us, even controlling one ship would take a massive amount of concentration from several of the Knights at once."

"What are you implying?"

"That we can still reason with the other three vessels, assuming that they willingly joined the enemy. It would take a while for our cannons to penetrate the _Dominion's_ shields, likely minutes if we were to target the _Imperial-_ class star destroyers." He hesitated for a moment, finding himself unable to voice the next thought out loud.

 _"I do not particularly wish to destroy them for caving into fear, if that was what happened."_ Kylo's eyes met his, the other's expression indiscernible to Hux. He supposed that it was only customary to have the traitors executed on the spot, but they were also still recovering from the loss of the _Supremacy_. He'd rather not thin the First Order's forces if he could help it.

"Ah, so if they are smart, they'll rejoin us," Igniv commented from the side, breaking the tension. "That is, if they are smart," he repeated, emphasizing the conditional.

He chose to ignore the man's attempt at humor. "They'll be convinced, one way or another."

The _Finalizer_ soon exited hyperspace, the _Dominion_ and three other star destroyers visible in the distance, their massive hulls casting a shadow over a sea of fire below.

"They've already started," Kylo hissed, the anger radiating from the man so raw that several of the officers involuntarily flinched lest he drew his lightsaber.

Hux grimaced, mentally keeping his own fists from automatically clenching at his side.

"Incoming message from the _Regency_ , sir," Mitaka announced almost immediately.

He had expected this. "Patch them through."

"General Hux, this is Captain Khromi of the _Regency_." The man looked pale, bottom lip trembling as he spoke. Hux did not see any signs of the Knights behind Captain Khromi, only the usual personnel as required on a standard bridge. The captain continued, and Hux almost applauded the other's courage at such insubordination. "We refuse to follow the usurper. Supreme Leader Snoke lives. W-we've all heard him."

Hux could sense the unease in the air, could sense his men watching him with bated breath. He glared at the monitor, jaw set and his decision made.

"Understood, captain."

Captain Khromi looked confused for a moment, but Hux made sure to cut that expression short on the other as he turned almost methodically to Mitaka.

"Lieutenant, you may close the communication. I have no interest in talking to cowards." His eyes flashed as he turned back to the monitor. "If you decide to reconsider your decision in the near future, Captain Khromi, then I'd suggest you start thinking of ways to prove your worth." Hux looked away as to make a point. He had been bred his entire life to play his role perfectly, and he intended to do just that in this battle. He was the one in control, not Brendol, not Snoke.

"Fire," he commanded.

Captain Khromi's eyes widened at the suggestion. "No, wait! Please reconsider!"

The screen cut off, and the cannons on the ship began their assault, firing a barrage of lights at the _Dominion_. Hux admitted that _Starkiller_ may had been his greatest "achievement," but there had always been an elegance to the care put into the _Finalizer's_ build as the First Order's most advanced star destroyer. He himself had directed much of the design decisions for the kyber crystal-powered weapons, and at the moment he considered themselves lucky that they had found a suitable kyber-filled world for _Starkiller_. He considered themselves lucky that they did not have to decommission any of the weapons on the _Finalizer_ to power the late superweapon.

"We need to get a little closer before we can adequately penetrate their shields," Mitaka said as the rain of fire continued outside.

"I am aware. Keep firing for now. We'll advance when the _Harbringer_ and _Conqueror_ arrive." Hux turned to Igniv. "You're up. Are you able to tell us the locations of the other Knights from this distance, Igniv?"

The Knight nodded, closing his eyes. "Let's see…" His breath slowed, brows furrowed in concentration. "There are three on the _Dominion._ I don't sense the others on the other ships."

 _"Skaara isn't there…"_ Hux heard in his head.

"Concentrate, Igniv," Kylo said quietly, but the Knight only shook his head, opening his eyes.

"That's all I've got, general."

"Good." This was playing out as expected.

The _Dominion_ continued to fire upon the planet in the distance, ignoring the lasers from the _Finalizer_ as they collided harmlessly with the star destroyer's shields.

Hux viewed the display expressionlessly only to wince slightly when he felt a slight pain shoot through his head as he watched another barrage of lasers bounce off the _Dominion's_ shields. He had to refrain from massaging his temple at the dull headache that had begun to creep up on him, and he saw Kylo look at him in the corner of his eye.

 _"Are you okay?"_

 _"Must have not drank enough caf this morning,"_ he replied. The throbbing persisted however, and he bit his lip to fight off the uncomfortable sensation. He spotted a dim wave of lights come out of Takodana's atmosphere only to be shot down by the star destroyer's cannons, likely the planet's inhabitants trying to escape.

"Sir, sensors have spotted the _Millennium Falcon_ on the surface of the planet."

He grimaced and looked at Kylo, finding the latter's lips drawn into a thin line.

 _"What would you have me do, Kylo?"_

He heard no response from the other, and it was then that he sensed it, a wave of Darkness lurching out from the other, assaulting his mind. He nearly fell to his knees from the sensation, catching himself the last minute when the _Conqueror_ and _Harbringer_ suddenly dropped out of lightspeed, cannons at the ready.

"Sir, orders to advance?" Mitaka asked from the side.

Hux found that he had lost his voice, the Darkness now swarming around him, threatening to devour him whole.

Kylo looked just as perturbed, eyes wide as the sensation swept over Hux like a smoldering blanket, the sound on the bridge suddenly cutting to a loud ringing. Hux looked around, finding the others looking to him expectantly as he tried to escape the void that had caught him in its grasp.

Kylo wouldn't hurt him, he reasoned. He had nothing to fear. He had nothing to-

 _Snoke._

Snoke was trying to get into his mind. He fought off the chill that spread through his limbs, tried to suppress the panic that was likely starting to manifest on his face. This was not how a general should be acting. He could not let his men see him like this.

 _His father stood before him in his mind, belt in hand._

 _Weak._

He let out a shaky breath, feeling his legs turn to jelly. Kylo took a step towards him.

 _"Concentrate,"_ he heard Igniv in his head, a sudden clarity throughout the Darkness. _"Reach out."_

He took a deep breath, turning his gaze back to the battle at hand. He was suddenly on the planet, surrounded by her seas, her forests. Then, Takodana was burning, its lush green trees below a blazing red and orange. Its seas were turbulent, its waters screaming as each beam penetrated its depths. It was then he heard _her_.

The kyber crystal felt warm in his pocket, and he removed his glove to grab it, feeling it hum against his skin. His mind suddenly felt clearer, lighter.

"Sir?" Mitaka repeated, starting to look worried.

Hux straightened up. "Advance. Ignore the _Millennium Falcon_ for now. We have more urgent matters at hand."

He turned to see that Kylo and Igniv had left.

.

The sky erupted in a display of lights as the three newest arriving ships began firing in unison at one of the star destroyers above them. Maz looked on in awe as the _Millennium Falcon_ landed near them, its door lowering.

"Hurry!" Rey called out to her, and she ran to the ship, finding Kaiyo still fixated on the battle above.

"Come, it's time to go," she urged the other, finding the two of the them switching roles as she grabbed the woman's hand and lead the other to the ship. They boarded promptly, and soon they were in the air again, flying close to the ground to avoid detection as the forests continued to explode around them despite the battle above.

"It is good to see you, Princess Leia," Maz greeted the general when she spotted the other, giving the general a warm hug before situating herself by one of the windows. She blinked at the other faces in the ship, likely the very last remnants of the Resistance. They were few in number, but she could still sense that fiery determination in their eyes.

"Rey was the one who insisted on coming for you," Leia explained. "We were actually very fortunate that she was able to track you."

"You have my deepest gratitude," Maz said as she looked over to the young Jedi, who nodded in reply, eyes averting. She smiled knowingly and turned her gaze through one of the windows. "This is surprising. Why are they attacking each other?"

"Must be some fracture in the Order after Snoke died," one of the men spoke up, and Maz suddenly realized it was Finn, the stormtrooper defector Han had brought with him that day. She almost didn't recognize the determination in the other's eyes, so different from their first meeting. "We need to fly clear of the star destroyers before jumping. They'll destroy us in a second if we're spotted exiting the atmosphere."

"They probably already know that we are here," Rey finally spoke, still unwilling to meet her gaze. Maz knew that the girl must have done much to convince the others to come here, and she was eternally thankful to Rey. There had to be more to how the Resistance had found them in the forest of all places, but Maz was not about to pry.

Meanwhile, General Leia shifted from her seat over to Kaiyo, who had been quiet the entire time. Maz noticed that the other was clutching a pendant of some sort that the woman wore around her neck, knuckles so tense that they were almost white. She blinked, sensing something odd about the gesture as Leia smiled and sat down next to the other.

"Kaiyo, are you okay?"

Kaiyo shook her head, snapping out of her trance before the life seemed to finally return to her eyes. "I am fine. Thank you for coming for us, Princess Leia."

Maz watched as she slipped the pendant back under her clothes, a momentary gleam of white flashing across the room to her.

Perhaps not a Jedi yet, she thought, the corners of her lips turning upward.

It was never too late to start.

.

"Supre-" Hux began as the other finally appeared in the holo projector, the red hue of the TIE silencer casting a soft glow on the man's face.

The supreme leader cut him off before he could even complete the thought. "You're in charge of the battle from the bridge, General Hux. Do what you must." The communication turned off.

Hux stared blankly at the space where Kylo's projection had been, appalled that the supreme leader himself would go into battle. If anything happened to Kylo, then he would not know what to do next.

His past self would have seen it as an opportunity to take hold of the First Order, but at the moment, all he wanted was the idiot to come back to the bridge where Kylo belonged.

"Orders, sir?" one of the men asked from his station below, likely wondering if they were going to change their plan of attack now that the supreme leader himself was out in the battlefield. Hux told himself to send out a few reminders for appropriate conduct on the bridge after this was over.

"Continue to concentrate all firepower at the _Dominion._ Send out the TIE fighters and engage them."

The cannons roared around them as the three _Resurgent_ -class star destroyers continued their onslaught. He didn't expect the _Dominion_ to last much longer if they continued approaching at this range, but he had learned to always expect things to go wrong the last second.

"Sir, enemy ships approaching!"

The two forces engaged in front of them, the lasers from the TIE fighters bouncing harmlessly off of the _Finalizer's_ advanced defenses. Still, small ships at such a close range was what brought down a _Mandator IV_ -class siege dreadnought last time, and he was not taking any chances. The fact that all of their ships looked the same didn't help much either for his nerves, and he left it to his men to keep a close count of who was fighting on which side.

It was then that he sensed a number of them heading for the hangar, the sudden wave of danger so apparent that it nearly made his mind reel.

"Concentrate the portside cannons in front of the hangar!" he barked. He had to get used to this.

An explosion to their left confirmed his suspicions, and he let out of breath of relief. The last thing they needed was the enemy firing their lasers inside the ship. However, the momentary distraction proved detrimental as he saw several TIE fighters approaching the bridge.

"Fire at those ships!" Peavey yelled beside him, but their fear was short-lived as several beams from the side connected with the incoming enemy, blasting them to oblivion. He could hear the howl of Kylo's TIE silencer and another ship, Igniv he sensed, as it flew past.

Hux bit his lip, forcing himself to focus on the overall battle at hand. They were doing fine at the moment, but the ease of it all put him on edge. He had seen far too many cases of relief lead into a downward spiral of disaster.

"How much longer until we're within penetrating range?" he asked Mitaka impatiently.

"Five minutes, sir."

.

Kylo shot down another enemy TIE fighter before turning his ship around to fire at the two that had decided to catch him from behind while he was seemingly distracted. He was actually greatly distracted, he admitted to himself as he flew through the remnants of the two he had just blown to smithereens. Igniv was the one who had protected Hux, not him. The thought itself made him want to destroy something, and what better way to do so than through the battle before him.

"You know, normally the Supreme Leader should not be on the front lines," the man in question's voice reverberated through the comm system as Kylo whirled around yet again to dodge some incoming fire.

He ignored the Knight and continued to shoot down ship after ship, making note to keep track of which ones actually belonged to the _Finalizer._

Kylo did find it odd that the _Dominion_ had not fired at them yet. It was far better equipped than the three smaller _Imperial-_ class star destroyers to take them on, yet it only continued to pummel the surface of the planet below, ignoring them as if they were no more than mere pests.

The thought itself made Kylo's blood boil.

There also remained the fact that two of the Knights were missing. Perhaps they had gone elsewhere in search of Force-sensitives to slaughter, or perhaps there was a more sinister overlying plan. There was no telling when it came to Skaara.

His stomach dropped at another thought. Perhaps this entire battle was indeed a ruse, a mere distraction from whatever Skaara Ren and the last Knight were doing in the name of Snoke. His former master was strong and was able to project the Force across vast distances. Perhaps they were searching for a way to bring the monster back.

Igniv's sudden panicked thoughts in his head dragged him away from his musings.

 _"Kylo, he's going for the general!"_

Kylo shot down another enemy TIE fighter, fighting with himself more than the battle at hand. If he went back now, then Snoke could attack Hux again through him. And, if he went back, then who was there to protect the bridge? He could still remember the sight of the _Raddus's_ bridge exploding, his own hand merely seconds away from committing the deed himself.

Also, he had already proved himself unable to control the Darkness that surrounded him, the same Darkness that Snoke had used to project himself at Hux. Going back only meant that-

 _"Kylo, the general's like a sitting duck in there without you to shield him. Even if you don't have complete control, it's still something."_

 _"But Snoke attacked him through me,"_ he replied. _"You saw it yourself."_

 _"And you were both able to ward him off, right? If that weren't the case, Snoke would've had you destroying the entire bridge back there!"_

Kylo shot down another TIE fighter, still reluctant to return. He was a danger to Hux in this volatile state.

 _"I'll take care of things out here!"_ There was a pause, and he felt the sudden wave of fear coming from the other.

 _"Go back now, Kylo! Please!"_

He grimaced and turned the ship around.

.

Hux heard an unearthly laughter echo throughout the room and had to prevent himself from whirling around when he saw that his men were oblivious to the noise that assaulted his senses. This only meant one thing, and he gulped in anticipation as the wave of Darkness washed over him like before, weaker than Kylo's yet more controlled, and he knew from experience that control meant everything.

 _"He thought that you'll be safe if he left the ship. Wrong, as usual."_ It did not sound like Snoke, which he supposed was a blessing, but like a collective of voices. He could feel their presence getting stronger as they neared the _Dominion_ , and an idea suddenly struck him. The Knights were likely projecting to him, so the other ships were left without instruction.

He took a deep breath, wondering if he could use this to his advantage. He looked to Mitaka, fully concentrated on the battle ahead. Perhaps if they were able to damage the _Dominion_ substantially, then the other ships would see the futility in it all and surrender.

The voices continued, drowning out any further plans that had crossed his mind.

 _"His Darkness is great. It was actually preventing us from getting in, but now he has left you alone, unguarded."_

Hux tried to ignore them, tried to shield his thoughts away as he cleared his mind. If they were able to project like this, then they would likely figure out his plan sooner or later.

The voices merely laughed, and a sudden return of the earlier headache nearly brought him to his knees. _"Your schemes matter not. Take down the general, and the fleet goes with him,"_ the Knight's voices echoed through his head, threatening to split it apart. Hux grasped onto one of the railings for support, beads of sweat trickling down the side of his face as he fought off the pain and the stars that threatened to cloud his vision.

He knew the others could not sense it; they were all concentrating on the battle at hand as they continued to approach the _Dominion_. The destruction continued outside, a rush of lights indicating where their TIE fighters were currently clashing. And, Takodana continued to burn, the massive star destroyer in distance still firing into its surface. He let out a shaky breath. They just needed a few more minutes.

Yet, the Knights continued, undeterred and only growing stronger as they neared the enemy ship _._

 _"There are over 80,000 men on board, most of which trained through your program, general. Would you forsake them for an insignificant little planet like Takodana?"_

 _"Your gross display of power is going to destroy the Order_ ," he retorted vehemently, focusing on using his anger in an attempt to drive the other out, but only a sense of amusement radiated from their collective minds.

 _"Like how you destroyed the Hosnian System, my dearest Starkiller?"_

Hux froze, his veins turning to ice at the accusation. He knew that they were correct, and logically, he had no right to tell them otherwise. He saw Snoke smile cruelly in his mind's eye, likely knowing that the other had struck a nerve.

 _"Come back. You belong to me,"_ the creature whispered.

The bridge disappeared before him, melting into a memory that the Knights ripped from the recesses of his mind and dragged back into the surface. Hux struggled helplessly against the violation, but he was restrained, trapped in his own thoughts.

 _He was tied to the bed, watching the wrinkled form of Snoke with bated breath as the other eyed a device in its bony hands almost curiously. A string extended from the switch, and he bit his lip, unwilling to give the other the satisfaction of knowing his discomfort._

 _Snoke sneered regardless. "Why fight it? You belong to me after all." The long, disfigured fingers flipped the switch on to max._

 _He screamed._

He was back on the _Finalizer_. Hux felt like a bucket of ice had been dumped over his head, and he grasped the railing tighter to keep his shaking at bay. His breathing hitched, and he nearly gasped for air, fighting the urge to hyperventilate.

 _The laughing only became louder in his mind, threatening to rip it apart._

"General?"

He looked to Mitaka. If the Lieutenant had noticed anything, Mitaka decided to hide it. Hux decided that if they survived this, he would have to give the man a promotion. His head continued to throb with the onslaught, and the _Dominion_ began turning towards them, cannons ready, as they approached.

Then, the large _Resurgent-_ class star destroyer finally began firing at them, lasers slamming into the barrier with such force that the bridge shook with the impact. It was now or never. His hands found its way back to the kyber crystal, and the headache lifted slightly, just enough for him to regain momentary control.

He straightened up with the pure strength of will alone. "Concentrate all firepower on the _Dominion_. I want all cannons to fire at exactly the same time on my command."

 _"You would murder your own men, Starkiller?"_

He could suddenly feel the fear emaciating from the men on the four ships, amplified a thousand times by the Knights. Snoke must have thought this was some sort of punishment, connecting his mind like this to the ones he was about to kill, the ones he had utterly failed.

"Sir?" Mitaka looked at him expectantly. He felt the eyes of the bridge on him.

No, he had not failed them, not yet.

He closed his eyes, hand still clenched around the crystal. Two could play at this game.

 _"This is General Hux of the First Order. Move away from the Dominion. You have my permission to use the escape pods if you must."_ The thought echoed loud and clear through the connection, and he could sense a swarm of minds look up.

The Knights' laughter ceased in his head.

 _"You wouldn't dare."_

His vision wavered, and the headache intensified. He wanted to scream, to let the Darkness claim him. He was going to be ripped apart. It was over. He was going to fall, and Snoke would win, would stand over his body just as the monster had always done.

 _"Armitage..."_

"Sir! Look!" He looked up in time to see the _Regency_ fire at the _Dominion_.

Suddenly, the other two smaller _Imperial_ -class star destroyers followed suite, pummeling away at the enemy flagship.

 _"What are you doing? Fire on the traitors or we will kill every single last one of you!"_ the voices reverberated through his mind, no longer concentrated on him alone.

He could sense the cannons on the _Dominion_ turn to the side. He had to give the order now or else all four ships would be lost. Hux swallowed, his mouth dry.

"Fire."

The air around him seemed to go silent as a rain of lasers flew towards the _Dominion_ in unison. He could see the shields waver, then disappear, and fire soon engulfed the entire ship as each subsequent beam made contact.

 _"Traitor!"_

The bridge exploded, and the splitting headache lifted only to be followed by a wave of agony of the men still stationed on the _Dominion_ , the ones who have been unjustly dragged into this entire mess. He raised a hand weakly and their onslaught ceased, but the _Dominion_ was finished as a continuous series of explosions took its hull. It all seemed to happen much too slowly as pieces of the shattered ship flew away, accompanied by an ongoing wave of screams that continued to flow through his mind mercilessly.

He let out a breath, feeling the wails dull only slightly even as the connection with the Knights broke completely, torn from him with the same pain as if he had lost a limb.

"The _Regency_ is trying to make contact, sir!"

"Patch them through," he managed.

"G-general Hux," Captain Khromi stammered, sweat rolling down the side of the man's face. "Forgive us for our insubordination. Long live the supreme leader."

"You made the right decision," he told them, gaining a relieved salute from the captain as the communication shut off for the time being. The _Dominion_ continued to burn before them as pieces of the ship started to fall away. He could spot a few escape pods detach from its hull only to be hit by the floating debris.

The sight made him nauseous, and he looked away, still unable to fight off the ongoing screams in his mind as his vision began to cloud. The connection to the Knights and Snoke was dead for now, but he could still hear the crew of the _Dominion_ , an unrelenting onslaught. He didn't understand, didn't know how to block it out. It was too much, too much.

"General?" Mitaka was beside him in an instant. He wanted to congratulate the man on a job well done, to assure the other than he was fine, but the cries swallowing him whole as the _Dominion_ continued to break apart outside kept him rooted to the spot, unable to move away from the destruction he had caused.

Starkiller. He would always be the Starkiller.

A murderer.

He-

"Supreme Leader Ren?" he heard Mitaka gasp beside him.

He felt something wave across his mind, a soft sensation, beckoning him to sleep. He fought it for a moment, reasoning that he should continue to watch the results of his destruction, to suffer as he had caused them to suffer. Yet, the other was stronger, and he felt his mind eased into oblivion as his muscles went limp.

A pair of strong arms caught him, holding him close as its owner barked out a series of orders to the bridge.

* * *

As usual, thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Igniv sighed heavily at his now cold cup of caf, swirling it slowly before taking another small disinterested sip. He finally gave up on the mug and placed it gently down in favor of massaging his temple with a free hand. The sudden emptiness he felt when the _Dominion_ exploded left a gaping hole in his chest, and the screams that permeated the Force still echoed in his memory like a curse. He sighed again and rested his head on the table, praying for the sensation to go away.

He had sensed Snoke's consciousness escape the moment the bridge blew, leaving the three alone for the void of death to take. He doubted that they would return like the Force-ghosts of legend; Snoke had made sure of that with how far they have all strayed from the path of the Jedi. He wondered if perhaps Kylo would still have a chance to go back down that road. The general certainly had some good odds.

Igniv let out another weary breath, turning his head to the side to study his palm aimlessly, calloused from years of training, training he had done alongside _them_.

And now they were gone. Three down, two to go.

"Skaara…" The day will come sooner or later, and if feeling the life leave the others left this big of a wound in him, he didn't know if he could survive the day he plunges his lightsaber into that man's chest. The thought itself made his heart clench, nearly taking his breath away as he choked down the feeling.

The mug of caf shook in front of him, a small crack making its way down the side when he heard the cafeteria door slide open. Igniv let out a breath, releasing his hold on the Force as he willed his mind back into a calm oblivion.

This was why he couldn't be a Jedi, he thought miserably. He was too attached to the tangible, too _weak._

A set of footsteps approached him, and he made no move to look up until they were nearly next to him. He recognized the man immediately, the doe-eyed lieutenant he had enjoyed looking at back at the conference room and on the bridge. He believed that the general had called the other, "Mitaka."

"May I sit down?" Mitaka asked, hands slightly shaking around a tray that held two bowls. He sensed fear from the other, but underneath the conditioned response, there was a determination that had surely won out now that the other was here.

"Sure," Igniv sat up and nodded towards the seat across from him.

The fear dissipated, and a small smile flashed across the other's face as Mitaka set the tray down and placed one of the bowls in front of him. Igniv cocked his head to the side, confused.

"It's the easiest thing on the stomach they have here."

Igniv found himself returning the smile. "Thanks," he replied and picked up the spoon the other offered him. One bite told him that the other was right; the subtle flavors of the warm soup were comforting and settled the unease in his stomach he had been feeling since after the battle.

The two ate in silence for a while, enjoying the quiet of the empty mess hall.

Igniv found himself much more relaxed now that his stomach was pleasantly full once again, something Skaara had always made fun of him for. He willed the unpleasant memory away, trying to focus on the last of his soup. He scolded himself for letting his mind wander when such an exquisite specimen was sitting across from him. And, of course, Mitaka was the first to break the silence.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier, sir," the lieutenant said out of nowhere, voice slightly trembling.

Igniv looked up a little too quickly, torn away from the demons in his mind. "I don't follow," he said. "What are you apologizing for?" He had a hunch, and he really did feel bad that the other found it necessary to go this far. Their initial fear of him was completely warranted, given what the other Knights had done to the _Dominion_.

Mitaka swallowed before continuing. Igniv could almost smell the fear radiating off the other and wanted to just place a hand on the man's shoulder to calm him down. He should have just accepted the apology and left it at that. "I suspected you, back during our first meeting. I-I wanted to apologize for making you feel uncomfortable, sir."

Igniv snorted. "Please stop calling me, 'sir.' It's Igniv." He really didn't care for formalities, but the other Knights enjoyed their titles, so he usually just went along with it. However, he couldn't help but be amused at the horrified look Mitaka was giving him, which made this all worthwhile. He grinned, feeling his spirits lift a little. "And it's fine. You knew better than to verbalize it like that old fart did."

Mitaka paled at his nickname for Captain Peavey.

Igniv held back another laugh as he leaned back in his chair, now content from a belly full of soup and finding the tiredness finally starting to set in. He supposed he shouldn't have drank the caf earlier. "So, what brings you here at this time of the night cycle? You should be tired after such an exciting day."

"I couldn't sleep," Mitaka admitted, looking down at the table.

"Oh?" To be honest, that was exactly why Igniv was here himself. Kylo had done an impressive job at delegating the rescue efforts for what was left of the _Dominion_ and Takodana, leaving them enough time for a short break during their rest cycle, but he had found himself staring wide-eyed at the ceiling two hours in, unable to sleep. Skipping dinner definitely didn't help either.

He sensed unease in the other along with a mixture of regret and self-loathing. That wouldn't do, he thought. As a lieutenant, Mitaka should be relieved that they had gotten out of this relatively unscathed.

"Anything I can help with?" he offered.

Mitaka seemed surprised at this. "You can't read my thoughts?"

Igniv grinned. "I'm not nearly as good as Kylo. You would have noticed instantly."

The man sighed, eyes downcast. Igniv felt a strong urge to wipe the dejected look off the other's face.

"I just wish I could have done more, sir," Mitaka finally admitted, his voice soft.

Igniv blinked at the confession before realizing what the other meant. Mitaka had been on the bridge when Snoke had invaded the general's mind. He had not heard from Kylo about the general's status since, but he was certain the attack was not without its aftereffects.

"You wish you were Force-sensitive," he commented.

Mitaka nodded guiltily, eyes downcast.

Igniv smiled at the other's honestly. "It's not that great, to be honest." He sighed. "It's too loud sometimes."

The lieutenant regarded him quietly, eyes meeting his. Igniv decided that he really did like looking at Mitaka's eyes. They were gentle, completely opposite of the man's occupation.

.

Kylo kept vigil beside Hux's bed through the night cycle, scanning the other's mind for any signs of life as the general slept on. He did not expect the effects of his powers to last this long after he had lulled the other to sleep with the Force on the bridge, and the hole he felt in the lack of his mental bond with Hux started to worry him.

He tried not to let the encroaching panic come to light, reasoning with himself that Hux would wake soon enough and scold him for knocking the other out in front of everyone, that they would return to their usual bickering, that he would silence the other with a kiss. Kylo suppressed a miserable groan, burying his face in his hands.

This was his fault. If he had been strong enough to control the Darkness that was Snoke, then Hux would not have been attacked. Igniv was right; he should never had left the bridge in the first place, but he had been so scared at the flare, terrified of the prospect of hurting Hux himself. He remembered the yellowing bruises on the other's chest that one time, ones he had created himself when he carelessly hurled his then co-commander into the walls of the shuttle back on Crait. So much had changed between them since then.

He never wanted to see Hux like that again.

Kylo took a cold ungloved hand in his, grasping it tightly. _"Armitage,"_ he called out though the silent Force bond.

Nothing but silence answered him.

Kylo grimaced, his heart sinking, and he reached out again to the sleeping man, hoping to find some trace of sanity left in the other.

He won't let it end like this.

He won't.

 _He was standing on an empty beach, the rays of the setting sun dyeing the vast ocean before him blood red, stretching out as far as the eye could see. Kylo let out a breath when he spotted a familiar silhouette at the edge of the waves, the man's fiery hair shining even brighter against the horizon as the water lapped gently over the other's bare feet. The man's essence felt so transparent, as if he would disappear into the waves if Kylo blinked._

" _Hux," he breathed, his heart skipping a beat when those pale green eyes turned to meet his once again. He felt as if the other were galaxies away, even though Hux stood before him now. It was as if the man was just a memory, a projection of the Force sent to torture him like his uncle back on Crait._

 _The ethereal creature shook its head, making Kylo's stomach drop. He was right. Hux was-_

" _Armitage," the man whispered. "I am just Armitage."_

 _Without hesitation, Kylo bridged the gap between them, taking a few steps through the soft sand before grasping the other's hands in his. They were solid._

 _Hux was still here, still at a place that he could reach._

" _Armitage, then. Please don't go," he found himself saying, pleading. "Please."_

 _Armitage smiled softly, guiding Kylo's hands to his face, the smooth pale skin cool under his palms. The man closed his eyes._

" _I did consider leaving, you know, many times," the other whispered. "Did you know what kept me?"_

" _What kept you?" Kylo asked him as if in a trance, focusing on those delicate lashes._

 _Armitage opened his eyes, the rays of the dying sun reflecting from his pale green irises like a flickering flame._

" _You called my name."_

Kylo awoke with a start at the ping of a new message from his datapad. He looked back to Hux, still finding the other deep in slumber. Yet, he could sense the other through the Force again, the general's mind currently in a peaceful dreamless hum.

Relieved at the familiar sensation through the Force, Kylo picked up the datapad to check on the latest update only to find a short message from Igniv that read, "You should get something to eat, then shower. You probably smell."

It took all the restraint he had in the world to not hurl the datapad at the opposite wall.

.

Rey sighed, leaning back in her co-pilot's seat now that they were safely in hyperspace, having made the jump just as one of the star destroyers burst into flames above them. She still could not shake off the unease from the entire situation in general, from the First Order's sudden siege on Takodana to the seemingly random attack on Maz. She was relieved to no end that they had managed to escape this mission unscathed.

"Rawrgwawggr?" Chewbacca inquired beside her.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

The wookie nodded, motioning behind him.

Rey smiled. "Thanks. I'll be back." She stood up from her chair, stretching before she left the cockpit to get some much-needed rest. She hadn't realized how much effort it took to track Maz down through the Force, and her body ached for a nap.

"Would you like to release a statement, General?" she heard Lieutenant Connix ask Leia as she approached the main hold.

"There is no need," the general answered, much softer than Leia's usual firm instructions.

"But this is the best time for us to denounce them publicly! They outright attacked a planet for absolutely no reason at all!" Poe insisted.

"And then proceeded to destroy their own ship." Rey recognized Maz's voice as she turned the corner, prompting the room's current inhabitants to look up. "Don't you think that was strange, Rey?"

Rey looked to Leia, who nodded. She forced herself to relax, wondering if she was overthinking all of this by keeping her knowledge from the others.

"It was Ben," she announced, almost hesitating as she added, "and General Hux. They saved Takodana." She still could not shake off the strong wave of anguish she felt from the latter when she heard his command to evacuate the _Dominion_ echo through the Force. It had been so poignant, so powerful, that she wondered if Leia and the others had heard it as well.

"There was something more than that." The room turned to Kaiyo, who was situated next to one of the viewports, her hands twirling a small glowing pendant around in her thin fingers. Rey sensed a powerful Force around the woman and was almost surprised that the other wasn't a Jedi. However, Leia trusted Kaiyo, and that was enough for Rey. "I sensed something sinister, a great Darkness that suddenly retracted when the ship blew. It's weakened, but it's still there," the woman continued, closing her eyes as if she were still listening for the sound.

Rey turned back to Leia, sensing the other staring intently at her. "You saw Snoke die, right?" the general asked her.

She gulped, nodding. Rey had a strong suspicion that Leia knew of her communications with Kylo, and she wondered if she should just tell everyone about her strange Force bond sessions with the general's son and be done with it. She took a deep breath to compose herself. Right, let's tell an entire room of panicking people that she was fraternizing with the enemy. That would definitely calm the situation.

Leia seemed to sense her predicament and turned to the others to break the tension between them. "We'll have to gather more information. There seems to be something more than a simple coup going on within the First Order." Rey did catch a small glint from the woman's eye directed at her regardless.

She supposed she'll have to try to contact the infuriating self-proclaimed supreme leader again. As much as she hated to admit it, they did save her and the _Millennium Falcon_ by drawing fire away from Takodana.

.

Kylo trudged through the halls of the _Finalizer_ , hair still damp from the shower and mood no better since receiving Igniv's message. He supposed he would feel less irritated at the world after sleeping, but his first instinct was to check on Hux. He would make do with the sofa if needed.

He keyed in the code to Hux's quarters impatiently, rushing past the ridiculous ice blue couch to the bedroom only to stop in his tracks when an empty bed greeted him in the middle of the dim room.

"Lights 40 percent," Kylo half-whispered in the event his sleep-deprived mind was playing tricks on him, but the mattress remained empty, pillow indented where Hux's head had been and blanket missing. He touched the sheets in disbelief, finding it still warm against his fingers. Kylo swallowed thickly, trying to stifle the panic that started to creep into his bones, and he ducked into the refresher only to find it also empty.

Hux couldn't have wandered too far, right? Despite his efforts, a myriad of possibilities instantly bombarded his mind of where the general could have gone, could have gone to do. He told himself he had to calm down.

" _Hux?"_ he called out through the bond. He felt no response, only a faint trace of Light, weak and far away. Kylo sat down and closed his eyes, trying not to panic as he concentrated on Hux's Force signature instead. He trusted the other to not do anything stupid, but he was reminded that he had trusted Hux similarly before the fiasco with the stims. Kylo skimmed the depths of the _Finalizer_ , ignoring Igniv and Mitaka in the crew's quarters and Peavey still patrolling on the bridge. He couldn't fathom that Hux could have wandered that far, and he had not received any reports of unauthorized shuttles taking off. Yet.

" _Hux, where are you?"_ he called out again.

Nothing. He grimaced and reached out further with the Force.

He tried again.

" _Armitage?"_

Kylo was suddenly enveloped by a sea of stars that reached far into the abyss of space, the unbearable silence a suffocating blanket. He bolted upward and headed for the viewport he had brought the other to for mediation, not expecting Hux to have made his way there. He remembered the peace he had felt when it was just the two of them in that room, encased in the balance of the Force for a brief moment before it all fell apart.

Even that felt so long ago.

He found himself standing in front of the door to the viewport much too soon for his liking, his hands hesitating as he sensed another wave of emotions from the other side, constricting and suffocating, despair bottled up for so long that it imploded into a black hole, reminding him of his failure, his broken promise. Snoke had hurt Hux again, and he had been too weak to prevent it, too cowardly to stand up and face the Darkness that brewed inside of him. The Force surged again on the other side and retracted unsteadily.

Kylo composed himself and punched in the override code.

The door slid open to a dark room illuminated by the soft starlight and Takodana's sun from outside. He spotted Hux standing barefoot in front of the tall transparisteel windows, a blanket wrapped around the man's small frame. The other took no notice of him as he closed the door behind him and made his way across the room.

Kylo paused just behind the general, the deep emptiness he felt from the other crashing against him in unrelenting waves. He wanted to reach out and embrace the other, wanted to tell Hux that everything was alright, that nothing else could've been done. Yet, he could feel the Darkness in himself festering, threatening even now to lash out at the vulnerable man in front of him, could sense Snoke just waiting for an opportunity to manifest.

The general broke the silence first, eyes still trained out to the vast expanse of space before them as he spoke.

"There were over 80,000 men on that ship," Hux whispered, bottom lip trembling as the general unconsciously drew the blanket tighter around himself. Kylo felt his heart constrict and took a step forward, but the man continued before Kylo could even put together what to say, voice nearly cracking as Hux added softly, "and billions more in the Hosnian System."

He could see those beautiful green eyes focused on the silhouette of Takodana in the distance, the remnants of the _Dominion_ floating in its atmosphere. Kylo wanted to tell Hux that none of this could have been avoided, that this had been the best course of action for all of them, but he knew that the other wouldn't believe him. Kylo himself had tried to organize a rescue operation lead by Mitaka and Igniv in the middle of hauling Hux off the bridge, but even then, they had barely managed to salvage a few escape pods that had been lucky enough to make it out of the wreckage.

Those pale green eyes slowly turned to him, red-rimmed and wet.

"Why did you put me to sleep? I was meant to suffer all of it," Hux asked him weakly.

"The connection with the _Dominion's_ crew was shattering your mind. It was the only way I could think of to break the bond," Kylo replied quietly. He had expected the other to be angry at the humiliation of fainting in front of his men, but the man only exhibited an exhausted resignation. He wanted the general to be angry with him, to flare up like Hux always did before he awakened to the Force. The idea that the Light had made his general weak caused the Darkness in him to pulsate threateningly.

Hux seemed to sense the irritation building up in Kylo and submitted without a fight, breaking their gaze by staring at the floor. "You should have just left me. The Order doesn't need a weak-willed general like me."

"I don't care what the Order needs!" Kylo snapped, feeling the fury build in him. His heart sank as Hux instinctively flinched away, and not knowing what else to do, he grabbed the man, pulling the other into a rough embrace before Hux could retreat any further. The Darkness flared up as expected, but he forced it away just as violently, shutting it into the recesses of his mind, away from himself, away from Hux. None of it mattered. Only Hux. He could feel the man trembling in his arms, and he tightened his hold, lowering his voice to a soft pleading whisper. "I need you. Here."

" _I was so scared of losing you."_

Trembling arms slowly wrapped around him, and Kylo descended to the ground with the other as Hux's knees gave way, holding the other tightly as the man sobbed into his chest.

" _Why do you want me so much? I'm dirty. Weak,"_ a small voice asked in his head.

"No, you're strong, stronger than anyone I've ever met," Kylo told him, rubbing circles on the other's back as the other's shoulders trembled violently in what he thought to be a valiant effort on Hux's part to stifle his sobs.

They remained like that for a little while, Hux's whimpers eventually declining to an occasional gasp for air. Kylo kept his mind on the edge of bond, easing the other's turbulent thoughts into a calm as the two of them dwelled in the silent embrace of each other.

Hux eventually pulled away slightly to wipe his swollen eyes on the blanket, leaning back on his knees as he kept his other hand on Kylo's. The touch was electrifying, and Kylo didn't want to let go, not yet.

The man looked down at their entwined hands. "I suppose that word is going around that the general of the First Order fainted on the bridge."

"They only talk of your compassion and of your words that managed to turn _Regency_ and the other two star destroyers back to our forces," Kylo replied.

Hux shook his head, snorting self-deprecatingly. "They made their own decision in the end to fire on the _Dominion_. I merely gave them a stern warning before shutting off communications prior to the battle."

"You told them to move away from the line of fire before you gave the order to destroy the _Dominion_."

Hux blinked at him, eyes widening with surprise. "You heard me?" he asked after a moment.

Kylo nodded. "Mitaka heard you too, and likely many others with even a hint of the Force besides the ones in the _Regency_. You projected your thoughts quite far."

The general bit his lip, hand tightening around Kylo's. "It was Snoke's doing."

"But the bond remained even after the connection with the Knights broke, correct?" He knew what he had sensed the second he stepped onto the bridge.

Hux paused for a moment and then nodded slowly.

Kylo grimaced, letting out a sigh as he mustered up the courage to push his dignity aside. "I'm sorry."

The look Hux gave him was of genuine confusion. "For what?"

He took a deep breath, gathering the will to admit his mistake. He was not used to this, but he felt that it had to be said. "I left you unprotected. I shouldn't have stormed out like that."

Hux shook his head in disagreement. "You saved us from that one shot on the bridge."

"I could have done that with the Force from within the ship." Or so he thought. He was pretty sure he would be able to if he put his mind to it.

"Really?" Hux raised an eyebrow, seemingly skeptical. "Show me."

"I am not letting you fire a TIE fighter's cannons at me." It was not that he thought that Hux would actually ask it of him, but he said it just in case.

Kylo could see the other holding back a laugh. "No, I meant, teach me how to control it. If you want to protect me, then I need to control this, whatever this is. I can meditate all day and," Hux swallowed thickly at the thought, "delegate my duties to Mitaka and Peavey if need be."

Kylo could not hold back the snort at the other's dedication to his work.

Hux frowned. "Don't laugh. Asshole."

He considered his next words for a few moments. It was much too soon, and he knew it, but they were running out of time. He could no longer leave the other unguarded without a weapon to protect himself against Snoke. "Perhaps now will be an appropriate time to put together your lightsaber," he finally suggested, hoping that this would not backfire on them. He had seen plenty wield one when they were not ready than he had cared to admit when he was still at the temple. They were all dead now, felled by his own hands when Snoke lured him away from the Light.

An almost child-like twinkle in the other's eyes broke his trip down memory lane, a stark contrast against Hux's puffy eyebags. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the desire to kiss the man and did just that, leaning in to gently brush his lips against the other's. Hux returned the gesture just as softly, and Kylo felt fingers through his hair, combing away the tangles from his recent shower.

" _Thank you,"_ he heard the faintest of whispers in his mind, the words a little cracked but the determination still strong behind them.

Ready or not, Kylo will make sure that Hux would be able to protect himself, he decided.

.

"So, why am I here? You're both obviously much better at mechanics and the Force than I am," Igniv huffed, arms crossed as he examined the contents on the table: a various assortment of wires and parts surrounding a glowing white kyber crystal.

"You're more in tune with the Light than I am, and I don't want anything going wrong," Kylo said through gritted teeth, and Hux had to hold back a snort at the obvious waves of jealousy the other was exhibiting. They had studied the construction of Kylo's lightsaber for a few hours now, but every time Hux made to pick up a piece, he felt a pang of uneasiness from the crystal.

Hence, Igniv was called to the rescue.

"Okay, so you need to build your lightsaber," the man in question commented, nodding.

"That's obvious, isn't it," Hux replied. "You said it yourself that it should help me concentrate."

"Yup, I did!" Igniv picked up the kyber crystal, the glow instantly dulling in his hands. "Ouch, nice to meet you too," he commented as he placed it down. "Well, it's easy. You put it together using the Force. If everything's in the right place, then whoosh! Lightsaber. One wrong wire in place, then boom! Medbay. If you make it there."

Hux could feel the heat rise to his ears at the thought despite himself. "How is that easy?"

"If you don't have anything to offer, then you are dismissed," Kylo growled.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." the other cackled.

Hux sighed, wondering if he should have just set forth on this venture on his own. He had the basics down from Kylo's lightsaber, but something was still missing, and he just couldn't place his finger on it. "I designed Starkiller Base. I'm sure I can build a lightsaber," he muttered, more to himself than the other two.

"Well let's get started then." Igniv grinned.

Much to his satisfaction, the three of them stared at Hux's handiwork a few hours later: a polished silver handle with a few ridges strategically placed for grip. Even now, his thumb ghosted over the mechanism that turned the lightsaber on. He had followed the inner workings of Igniv and Kylo's lightsabers to the teeth, yet he could still feel the unease from the kyber crystal inside, telling him that he was not ready.

Igniv levitated the lightsaber out of Hux's uncertain hand lightly, tugging the metal apart slightly to look inside at the wiring. "Looks pretty complete, wouldn't you say, Kylo?" he commented, turning to the supreme leader.

"I don't see any problems," the man agreed, dark eyes meeting Hux's. He could feel his breath hitch, melting under the man's intense gaze.

"Still, I've never seen a lightsaber built by hand before," Igniv said, sending the hilt back into Hux's hands.

"Well excuse me for not having learned how to float things yet," Hux snapped. The kyber crystal hummed nervously in his hand. It was then that he wondered if it was his inexperience that made the crystal so reluctant.

The Knight grinned. "I meant it as a compliment. We usually use the Force to guide us in its construction, but you made the entire thing from memory after looking at our lightsabers, yes? I think that's pretty impressive. Now, we just have to turn it on."

Hux looked at the lightsaber in his hands, frowning.

"We'll test it another day," Kylo finally spoke.

"I suppose you can teach him how to 'float things' around in the meantime," Igniv said, winking. Hux didn't understand how any part of that sentence was suggestive at all, but Kylo still managed to turn a deep shade of red.

Igniv laughed. "Well, I'm starved. I think my job is done for now, yes?"

"Thank you for your help," Hux told him, earning a grin from the other.

Igniv then left with a jolly wave, and Hux finally found himself alone with Kylo once more. He did feel a sense of accomplishment at the lightsaber in his hands, but at the same time, he felt uneasy, nervous.

" _You don't feel ready,"_ Kylo spoke to him in his mind.

Hux shook his head. _"I suppose not. Ironic, isn't it? After I asked you to hurry up and teach me."_

"It takes time, as with all things," Kylo smiled at him, making his heart flutter. "You forget, I've been learning for over two decades now."

Hux sighed, putting the lightsaber down.

" _I'm a little apprehensive,"_ he admitted. In his heart, he knew that the crystal was just as anxious. _"I do not know why_."

Kylo regarded him for a moment with those dark eyes before putting his uneasiness into words. "You're afraid of making your crystal bleed."

Hux blinked at the other, unfamiliar with the terminology. By the way Kylo had said it, he supposed it wasn't a very pleasant experience for either of them. "Did you…" he hesitated, not knowing what or how to ask.

Kylo nodded solemnly, motioning to the crossguard hilt at the man's belt. "That's why our lightsabers are red. Pour enough anguish into a kyber crystal, and your emotions will become your weapon."

Hux considered this for a moment. If what Kylo said was true, then he supposed his kyber crystal would turn the deepest red in the universe the moment he turned on the lightsaber. The crystal hummed from the table. His hands clenched at his side, and at that moment he decided he very much didn't want that.

A deep laughter permeated the air, making both of them look up. It was then he sensed the Darkness swarming out of Kylo once again like a wave of shadowy tentacles, its tendrils reaching out to burn him.

" _This is why you will always be weak, foolish child of the Light,"_ he heard Snoke's voice in his head. He took an involuntary step back away from Kylo who fought the Darkness just as valiantly, but it was swallowing the man, threatening to engulf him in its hungry jaws.

Then, those beautiful dark eyes suddenly dulled.

"No!" Hux reached out with his mind, fear for Kylo winning over fear for himself, a searing heat penetrating his senses as he felt his own Force collide with the combination of Snoke and Kylo's Darkness. The monster reared its head in pain and suddenly the crossguard lightsaber was in the other's hand, its red beam ignited.

Hux took a step back, arm outstretched to the table where his own finished lightsaber was. Kylo moved towards him unsteadily, eyes a sickening yellow as the man raised the crackling red beam above his head and brought it down shakily.

"Kylo!" Hux cried out, and his hands curled around the cold metal that flew into it and instinctively pressed down, igniting a pure white beam between them that caught Kylo's lightsaber right before it managed to slice into his shoulder. Hux trembled under the pressure, the two beams hissing between them as he fell hard on one knee. Despite the uneven movements, a possessed Kylo still had raw strength backing him, and Hux could feel his arms starting to give way as the sabers moved closer and closer to his throat.

"Kylo, wake up!" he screamed, and he reached out again with his mind, hearing whatever was in Kylo scream in pain at the touch of his Light as the other raised a hand to summon the Force. Hux mirrored the motion, forcing himself back on his feet, concentrating on opposing the invisible wall of energy that attempted to push him away.

 _"You are mine. I do not wish to kill you,"_ Snoke's voice echoed in his head. _"Give in, and I will spare your life."_

The air around them howled with the tension, his lightsaber humming through the Darkness, beckoning him to its Light. It was then he realized what it was that he lacked earlier, what had successfully ignited his kyber crystal without hesitation.

 _"No, I will protect him,"_ he declared, and Hux managed to shove the shadow out of Kylo's mind with a final cry, feeling his own body soar backwards as the impact threw him across the room into the opposite wall.

* * *

As usual, thank you for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Rey sat cross-legged on the bunk in the middle of the dark room and took in a deep breath before exhaling slowly through her nose, closing her eyes in an attempt to clear her mind. She knew Chewbacca had given her this precious time to rest, but no matter how hard she tried, sleep refused to come to her, Kaiyo's words still reverberating in her mind like a curse. She refused to believe it. She had seen Snoke die with her own two eyes.

That monster was gone.

Gone.

Rey reached out with her senses just as Luke had taught her, and she searched for the Force in its natural balance as she had experienced briefly on Ahch-To. She felt the Force signatures of her companions on the ship: Leia as a powerful surge similar almost to that of Ben and a strong pulsating Light that she recognized as Kaiyo. She could feel the peaceful resonance of a few sleeping porgs that had stolen away in the engine room and the gentle buzz of Chewbacca in the cockpit. They were all here on the _Millennium Falcon_ , safe.

Rey took another breath and reached out further. There had to be something she could find in the midst of all of this, something that would guide them.

However, only a surge of chaos greeted her in the depths of space outside, a beast of Darkness lurching out with menacing claws. She withdrew a second too late and the wave washed over her, drowning her in its blanket of haze. She tried to cry out, but the invisible veil muffled her voice, separating her from the others.

Then suddenly, all became quiet, the engines of the _Millennium Falcon_ as silent as the space outside its hull.

Rey opened her eyes slowly, knowing that they shouldn't have left hyperspace yet, but she found that she was no longer on the _Millennium Falcon_. She blinked at the scene before her, the room unfamiliarly large and bright, a complete opposite of the dark bunk she had been meditating in. Rey kept her impending panic in check as her gaze stopped upon a familiar silhouette in the middle of the room standing next to the lone bed as a droid whirled past her, oblivious to her presence.

Rey deduced that it was a medbay of some sort when she spotted an empty bacta tank to the side. She opened her mouth to speak but then closed it, deciding against alerting the room's inhabitants just yet. She had never experienced a Force bond session quite like this before with Ben's surroundings so clear to her. She took a few steps forward, expecting to crash into the wall of her bunk, but empty space allowed her to continue inching closer to Ben until she was right behind him. Rey gulped, peering around the giant of a man to see exactly who he would care enough to tend to. He had not cared when he killed his father, had not batted an eye when he shot down their defenses on Crait even while knowing that his own mother was in the fortress with the remnants of the Resistance.

She had to hold in a gasp when she saw the general of the First Order lying on the medbay cot.

" _Why are you here?"_ Ben's voice made her jump.

She scowled indignantly. "How am I supposed to know? It's not like I chose to be here." She looked back to the general, the loose fiery hair peeking through a few blood and bacta-soaked bandages wrapped around the man's head. He looked much younger like this, innocent even, his breaths soft and almost peaceful. Yet, she could sense a deep constricting Darkness looming over him, and it was a moment before she realized it was coming from Ben. She gulped, fighting off the strange pitting sensation in her stomach as the surrounding tendrils only seem to intensify when she noticed them. "What happened?"

" _I attacked him,"_ Ben replied in a toneless voice, eyes still fixated on the sleeping general, a hand curiously enclosed around the other's thin fingers. _"Threw him into the wall."_

"You really are a monster," she couldn't help but comment, shoving her current observations of the seemingly peaceful scene aside. To think that such a man was in charge of the largest military force in the galaxy was unfathomable to her. She had suspected that he had a temper, but to see the results of it so closely only cemented her disgust.

Ben remained indifferent despite her biting words and instead turned to look at her with sad, resigned eyes. She resented those expressive orbs, having been charmed by them once before back on Ahch-To.

Never again, she had told herself.

" _Yes, I am a monster."_ His resignation was really starting to affect her. She quickly tried to figure out just what game he was playing this time, but he merely continued, heart seemingly exposed and raw for her to see. " _I wasn't even able to protect him from Snoke."_

She blinked, caught off guard. "Snoke?" she repeated the name as she recalled her cryptic conversation with the others earlier. "That doesn't make any sense. You killed Snoke, remember?"

" _If only it were that easy."_ Ben returned his gaze back to the general. " _I was too weak."_

Weak? Rey didn't understand. Ben was a raging force of nature, gifted with power. Unless-

"Wait, Snoke really is alive?" She clenched her fists when he continued to give her the silent treatment, feeling her own panic begin to rise. "Answer me, Ben! I sensed his presence back on Takodana."

This seemed to stir something up in Ben as he turned back to her with wide eyes, almost akin to fear if she didn't know any better. _"You feel him too, probing at your mind?"_

She shook her head. "Not probing." Ben seemed relieved at this. She continued, "I sensed his presence during the battle around the time I heard your general through the Force." She glanced at the unconscious man in the bed, the reality of it all hitting her. The man had spoken clearly through the Force, had spread his words through thousands of minds. She gulped, trying not to imagine all the influence he could obtain through such means as she focused back on Ben. "It was a rather surprising turn of events."

" _I see. You heard Hux too."_ Ben seemed to consider this revelation for a moment.

"Yes. I suppose many people heard him." Then again, she had listened to him order the evacuation of the ship called the _Dominion_ before they shot it down. It had been an unsettlingly poignant address despite the intensity of his words. "It was rather strange," she admitted out loud as she recalled the sensation. "I didn't know the Starkiller had the ability to feel empathy."

" _You don't know a lot of things,"_ Ben told turn.

She glared at him.

Ben ignored her and turned back to the bed. _"He's recently awakened to the Force. It's strange; his powers are completely Light-oriented. I don't know if that is why Snoke keeps targeting him."_

Rey crossed her arms, trying not to let her shock show on her face at the revelation that there was yet another Force-sensitive user in the First Order, and that it had to be the Starkiller of all people. "Is that why you became interested in him, like you did with me?"

" _No!"_ Ben snapped with a little more emotion that Rey would have expected. She watched in fascination as he retracted uncomfortably, eyes darting back to the general. _"No, I…"_ he countered weakly, fingers tightening around the general's limp hand.

Something in her mind clicked as she stared at the fingers intertwined against the white sheets.

"Stars, are you in love with him?"

Ben blinked at her blankly, and for a moment, Rey wondered if she had just made an absolute fool of herself. Did the man even have the capacity to love left in him? He had ignited a lightsaber straight through his own father's heart as Han begged him to return to the Light. How could such a man even begin to love?

However, the gaze that Ben gave the general, eyes soft and mouth slightly parted as if he were really considering the question, told her everything before he even answered her.

" _I suppose I am,"_ he admitted, his voice a low rumble. She watched as fire seemed to return to those eyes as vehemently as she had seen them that day in the throne room. Ben brushed a strand of the general's red hair aside almost reverently.

Rey thought of Leia, wondering what the general would make of all this. And, she knew she was falling into the same trap all over again, grasping at the hope that was left in the Light that still remained inside the man called Ben, the Light that seemed to still flicker even now in his eyes as he looked at the unconscious man on the bed, a destroyer of worlds. The Starkiller.

It was madness that threatened to take her.

"You know, it's still not too late to make things right," the words just rolled out of her tongue despite herself, and she decided to reason it out, to compromise. If it was truly Snoke behind all of this, then perhaps they still had a chance to make amends, as shaky as the grounds are currently.

" _Yes, I am going to make things right,"_ he repeated her words, straightening up and looking at her, eyes alight with determination. _"Snoke has the power to take control of those predisposed to the Darkness. I need to stop him before he uses me to hurt Armitage again."_ He paused. _"I can still hear Snoke in my mind, threatening to lash out at him."_

She gulped, thinking of the implications of what those words meant. She didn't quite understand what Ben meant by Snoke taking control, but she did catch the word "I" and not "we" in the other's declaration of war against the enemy. That did not sound like a promising idea at all.

"You can't do this alone, Ben," Rey told him, trying to figure out how she could reword her offer in a way that he would understand, stopping just shy of declaring that he was not strong enough. She couldn't imagine a dumber plan when he had an entire army, but that was exactly the kind of stunt she expected the other to pull. Ben was unpredictable after all.

Ben shook his head. _"I can't drag him any deeper into this. Snoke almost destroyed his mind earlier back at Takodana. He was the one who took control of the Knights of Ren and ordered the attack on the planet in search of your friend."_

"They've really been targeting Force-sensitives everywhere, haven't they?" Rey recalled the other gruesome videos circulating through the holonet.

The other confirmed her suspicions. _"Yes, because they sensed his awakening. They're afraid of him, like they were afraid of you."_ He gritted his teeth. _"I need to destroy Snoke before he does any more damage, before he gains any more power over me, over Armitage."_

Rey sensed the urgency in the other and held up a hand to calm Ben down. She knew he was a brash man, and this was one occasion that it did neither him nor the Resistance any good if Ben were to just suddenly storm back into Snoke's clutches. "Wait, don't do this, Ben." She gulped, forcing out the next words as she spoke them almost bitterly. "We- your mother and I can help. We'll figure out a plan. I'll convince them to help. What if he takes does take control of you? You can't, Ben."

He smiled, his expression forlorn. Rey's heart sank.

"You're not alone. You know that, right?" The memory was still bitter on her lips.

" _I know."_

There was a small pop, and Rey was back in her bunk, staring at the dark ceiling. She jumped to feet, ignoring the stiff pangs of sleep in her bones as she ran to look for Leia.

.

Kylo stared at the spot where Rey had stood for another moment before turning back to Hux, his own heart clenching as he thought his plan through once again in the quiet of the medbay. He could still feel the familiar wave of Darkness threatening to seep out, untamed now that Hux was momentarily out of the picture. It was only a matter of time between it broke free completely to consume the _Finalizer_ and everyone on it. He had to go put a stop to this himself. If he fell to Snoke in the process, then the others would be far away enough to avoid any damage he may do.

He gave Hux's hand a final squeeze and let go reluctantly, still feeling the Darkness ebb out despite the loss of physical contact with the other Force user. He clenched his teeth.

He knew what he had to do. He had been considering it for a while now as he watched the general sleep, even before Rey had interrupted his thoughts. However, he had not expected for her to read him so clearly, for her to give a name to the one thing he had kept tucked in the recesses of his mind.

"Armitage," he whispered, but only the soft breaths of the other greeted him.

Kylo leaned over the bed and kissed those translucent eyelashes tenderly before backing away, his resolve wavering for a moment as he forced the lump down his throat.

"I will come back. I promise."

He hoped.

He turned around and left the medbay before he could change his mind, allowing the med droid to finally do its job unhindered.

No one barred his way in his journey to the hangar.

His found his TIE silencer waiting where he had left it, already refueled and ready to depart. Kylo let out the breath he had been holding and climbed inside.

He wondered briefly if this was actually a clever idea. Hux would no doubt be furious when the man awoke, but if he played his cards right, perhaps Kylo could take care of this entire mess and return in a timely manner. Skaara and the remaining Knight did not come close to him in power, and if he could take them out, he was sure Snoke would have no other place to go. The longer he waited, the more powerful the creature became, and he could not afford to stay in the shadows any longer.

His breath hitched with anticipation.

He was chaos.

He would destroy Snoke once and for all, and Hux would be safe.

He would have protected Armitage, just like he had promised that day.

He turned on the engine and prepared for takeoff.

.

"You sure eat your meals quite late," Igniv commented when Mitaka set a tray of food down in front of him.

"Ah, well," the lieutenant shuffled, eyes averted.

Igniv grinned. He could spot a faint tinge of red dusting the other's features. "I'm just playing. You can eat whenever you want."

He could sense the man relax slightly and begin eating quietly, small nervous trembles plaguing every bite as Mitaka forced the fork into his own mouth. Igniv swirled his cup of caf absentmindedly as he waited for the other to build up the courage to speak again, and he was quite pleased with the results of his patience.

"Why are you here so late yourself? You should be resting," the man finally asked him in a small voice.

"Ah," Igniv found his own words caught in his throat. He hadn't expected worry from the other. Well, he had expected it, but he realized he had not prepared an adequate response. He settled for twirling a strand of hair around his finger as he tried put all the feelings he should have been able to control as a Force-user into something tangible.

"Just swimming in a bit of self-pity, that's all," he decided to admit. He knew that Mitaka was referring to the incident earlier with Kylo and the general. Word had gotten out relatively quickly this time that the general had been sent to the medbay after some sort of accident, but he knew better.

He had felt the surge of Darkness shortly after he had left the two alone to flirt, had sensed Snoke's presence reaching far into the depths into the ship, manifesting in Kylo. He thought his friend had been able to suppress the Darkness, but it only seemed to get worse every time it lashed out. Igniv himself had been hearing less of Snoke's whispers, attributing it to the other losing three of the Knights, but perhaps Snoke just had no interest in Igniv himself anymore. The former supreme leader must have learned about the true awakening after the battle in Takodana.

Regardless, he had run back as fast as he could, but he was already too late.

He had found Kylo groaning on the ground, still reeling from Snoke being in his mind. The general was on the other side of the room lying in a growing pool of blood from a rather gruesome cut running down the side of the man's head. Kylo had nearly lost it until Igniv had confirmed that Hux was still breathing, and after that, the supreme leader had personally carried Hux across the ship to the medbay. Needless to say, more than one set of eyes had seen the course, and the trail of blood certainly didn't help to keep any rumors at bay.

"Will the general be okay?" Mitaka asked in a small voice.

Igniv sighed. "He should be. He got a pretty bad concussion this time. He's still out cold, but the doctor said he should be waking up any moment now." He could not explain the relief he felt when she said that the general would recover promptly, for Kylo's sake as well as his. "Thank goodness he didn't crack his skull. I really thought his brains were leaking out at one point."

He realized that the lieutenant was staring at him with the widest eyes he had ever seen on a man. Igniv raised his hands up in an attempt to calm the other down. "Worry not. It was just a flesh wound."

Mitaka nodded slowly, seeming to find it hard believe after his earlier description of the general's injuries. The man swallowed and returned to his dinner, staring disinterestedly at the food on his fork.

"It's good to hear that he will be okay."

"Yeah," Igniv agreed.

"What about…" Mitaka trailed off, finally putting the fork down. The man seemed to struggle with putting his concern into words. "What about Takodana?" the lieutenant finally asked after a moment.

"Hm." Igniv really did find it admirable that such a man would care about the general so much. He was a true subordinate indeed. "I suppose he is as alright as he could be." His own thoughts trailed back to the three Knights that had been on the _Dominion_. He had heard their deaths clearly through the Force, had nearly been sucked into the void left in their demise. He couldn't imagine what Hux had felt when Snoke connected the man's mind to the thousands stationed on the _Dominion_.

"You were close to them too, right?" Mitaka asked, the man's voice a soft rumble through his guilt-ridden memory of the exploding ship. "Ah, I mean, the Knights that were on the _Dominion._ It must have been hard for you too." The lieutenant looked away, flushing with embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm overstepping my bounds."

Igniv smiled, quite taken aback by the attempt to comfort him on the other's part.

"Ah well, such is life," he muttered.

Igniv suddenly froze, sensing something strange in Kylo's Force signature. The raging Darkness was starting to fade, almost as if the supreme leader had left the ship, but that didn't make any sense. The last time he had checked, Kylo was back on the medbay with the general.

" _Hey, where are you going?"_ he found himself asking regardless, unable to ignore the sensation as the other's Force signature became fainter and fainter. He heard no response and rose from his chair. _"Wait, Kylo? Kylo!"_

The other's Force-signature disappeared.

"What's wrong?" Mitaka asked, eyes wide, a spoon halfway up to the man's mouth.

Igniv gulped, trying to still his trembling hands as the metal of the chair began to bend under his grasp. "I just sensed Kylo leaving. Check the hangers! He should not be going after the enemy alone!"

.

A white ceiling greeted him as he came to, the lights much too bright for the raging headache that decided to accompany him to consciousness. His involuntary groan seemed to have notified someone, or rather something in the room, and he felt a slight tingle in his arm, followed by sweet relief.

"Lights 70 percent," a female voice spoke up this time.

Hux forcefully blinked his room back into focus, ignoring the worried beeps of what he presumed to be a med droid as he heaved his body up to a sitting position on the much too firm infirmary bed. A wave of nausea took him this time, and he attempted to massage his temple to keep himself from hurling only to find something akin to a damp cloth instead of skin under his fingertips.

The med droid beeped, and he felt the tingle again, relieving him a little of the nausea.

"What happened?" Hux choked out, finally managing to make out Dr. Andrienne through the haze that was his vision.

"The bacta is for the gash you sustained from hitting your own head on a wall. I'm surprised you didn't sustain a traumatic brain injury from slamming into the durasteel that hard. Consider yourself lucky, general. Besides the wound, you only suffered a heavy concussion," she replied, her lips drawn into in a stern line. "As you can see, the aftereffects are still quite prevalent. You will need a few days of rest before returning to active duty." She huffed at him, arms crossed indignantly. "And this time I must insist that-"

"I don't know if we have a few days, doctor," another voice interrupted her lecture.

Hux turned to the side, spotting Igniv leaning against one of the medicinal cabinets, a stark mass of black and slight purple in the middle of the white room. It was then he finally noticed the serious expressions on the other, the Knight's usually relaxed eyebrows drawn into a deep crease. That, and there was one other person missing, the one he had expected to see upon awakening.

His heart dropped.

"Where's Kylo?"

Igniv glanced at Dr. Andrienne, who sighed and adjusted her glasses before turning to leave. "No sudden movements, or you might make the injury worse," she reminded Hux before stepping out of the room, the door sliding shut after her and the med droid, leaving the two alone.

"Igniv?" Hux prompted the other when Igniv didn't immediately begin speaking. The man shifted uncomfortably from the spot by the wall before finally choosing to move closer. Hux could sense another wave of nausea hit him and closed his eyes, waiting for the sensation to go away as he heard the other pull up a chair. He opened them again to see Igniv thankfully at eye level so that he did not have to crane his neck.

Igniv sighed heavily. "Kylo's gone. He left in his TIE silencer without telling anyone. I noticed too late."

"Kylo left?" Hux blinked at the man, unable to process the information. Why would the supreme leader leave on a mission by himself without telling anyone?

"I didn't realize until right before he made the jump to hyperspace. Mitaka and the others are trying to track the ship now as we speak." Igniv groaned, pulling at his hair. "If only I noticed sooner, then..."

Hux didn't catch the rest of the Knight's sentence, his own hazy thoughts focused on the fact that Kylo had left, had went ahead without consulting him. Hadn't Kylo promised him that he would be protected? How the hell was the supreme leader supposed to carry that out if he wasn't here? He fisted the sheets in frustration and what he recognized as fear, trimmed nails digging into the fabric.

"General!" Igniv's worried voice brought him back, and he relaxed only to hear a series of clashes throughout the room before noticing the medical equipment scattered on the floor.

"Did I..." he trailed off, trying to subdue the panic building in him.

On the other hand, Igniv seemed much calmer that he ought to be, surveying the disaster of a room with a hand to his chin. "You know, I sensed a massive wave of Darkness after I left you two, much stronger than back on Takodana. I rushed back, but Snoke was already cast out, and you were out cold."

"He tried to take over Kylo's body," Hux explained.

"Yes, and you were strong enough to oppose him. Your power's growing, general." Igniv motioned to the mess behind him. "Much faster than any of us anticipated. I wonder if that means that Snoke is growing in power as well. The Force tends to try to achieve balance if one side becomes too strong." He sighed. "It never lasts long though."

Hux didn't understand what Igniv was getting at, but the man merely stood up from his seat and righted the IV pole that Hux had inadvertently somehow knocked over with his outburst.

"You should get some rest for now, general. We'll try to track Kylo down in the meantime. We're going to need you at full strength."

Dr. Andrienne re-entered the room just as Igniv was about to open the door, eyes flashing as she glanced at Hux and the mess in the medbay. "Don't worry, he'll be resting for the next few days. I already told him," Igniv reassured her.

She huffed and walked over to the bed, but Hux paid her no mind, unable to settle the churning in his stomach as his thoughts whirled around and around in circles. Kylo had left to take on Snoke alone. How stupid was the man? How could he-

"General." He looked up, vision swimming with the effort and his own raging thoughts. He found the doctor's usual intensity silenced for now, her eyes almost soft as she regarded him. "Would you rest better in your own quarters? I can arrange for a droid to change the bandages and prescribe some painkillers and sedatives to help you sleep through the headaches."

He swallowed his earlier indignation at her scolding. "Yes," Hux replied a little too meekly for his own liking. "Yes, that would be appropriate."

Hux found himself staring at the ceiling of his own room a few hours later, still finding sleep hard to come by with the constant dull headache pounding in his skull. Dr. Andrienne had assured him that it would go away with a day or two of rest, but he could not stop himself from thinking about Kylo, the pangs of emptiness threatening to engulf him in his darkened room.

He groaned, rolling over and closing his eyes as he waited for the sedative he finally decided to drink to take effect. Someone had the nerve to confiscate his datapad for the rest of the cycle, citing doctor's orders, and between attempting to meditate and trying not to think about Kylo, sleep seemed to be the best alternative.

The _Finalizer_ would be fine, he told himself. Mitaka and Igniv were running it, and when he woke up, they would have located Kylo.

Everything would be fine.

He almost laughed at his own delusions. His finished lightsaber stared back at him from atop the nightstand, and he took it gingerly in his hands, feeling the familiar hum through the cold steel of the handle.

" _Everything would be fine."_

 _He was standing on a beach, the calm waves licking at his bare feet with the soft rays of the setting sun casting an orange glow across the waters. He felt at peace here, encased in this world's silence, away from the First Order, away from war, from everything. He took a step forward into the sea's inviting depths, her arms welcoming him back into oblivion._

 _He was no one here, not a general, not a Force-user, not the Commandant's son._

 _He was just Armitage._

 _Armitage._

" _Armitage." The voice stopped him in his tracks. He took a deep breath, unwilling to turn around. He wanted to return to the water, to where he belonged._

 _Kylo had left him behind. There was no longer anything for him to return to if that man wasn't there._

" _Kylo," he finally mustered up the courage to reply, his voice cracking despite himself._

" _Ben," the man corrected him. "I am just Ben, Armitage." He could sense the other just behind him, the man's soft breaths just shy of his neck._

 _Armitage whirled around, feeling the rage build inside. "Why did you leave, Ben? We were supposed to do this together!"_

 _Familiar dark eyes stared into his, but the man who called himself Ben looked vulnerable, his features much younger with the tremors radiating from the other's bottom lip. "I promised to protect you."_

 _Armitage shook his head. "Then why aren't you here? I don't understand." He felt his chest clench, unfamiliar with the hole he felt inside of him. It was unlike any pain that he had ever felt in his life, and he had seen his fair share. He found it ironic that Ben, Kylo, whatever his name was, would be the source of this madness when the other had promised to protect him._

" _Come back to the Finalizer, Ben," he told the man. "We'll figure out how to defeat Snoke together."_

" _He's too strong, Armitage. I wasn't able to stop him from taking over," the other replied softly, the dying rays of the setting sun reflecting off those beautiful dark eyes._

" _So, you left to fight him alone? That's pretty stupid even by your standards," he hissed._

 _Ben did not seem fazed by his seething words. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking. I thought that it was better to fight him on his own turf than to lose control again back where you are."_

" _Typical." Armitage sighed. "Come back already. I-" He paused. "I need you. Here."_

 _Ben smiled sadly._

" _What's wrong?"_

" _You need to run far away, Armitage. Hide where I- where Snoke cannot find you. He-" Ben stopped abruptly, his eyes glassing over momentarily before he regained control of himself. The moment was unsettling, and Armitage could feel the discomfort building up once again in his chest._

" _Ben, where are you?"_

 _Ben shook his head. "Please."_

" _You know I'm no coward," he told the other, still trying to prompt the other for Ben's location._

 _Dark eyes stared into his. Ben laughed, defeated. "True, you're not a coward." The man shuddered again, taking a step back from Armitage._

" _I hear him, Armitage."_

" _Ben. Where are you?" he repeated one more time._

" _Please, save yourself."_

" _No, Ben. Kylo. I-" he pleaded. He won't let Ben do this alone. He won't._

" _I'm sorry. I can't let him find you here."_

He was thrown backward away from the ocean's waters into the sky, his body soaring through the cosmos. Somewhere the distance he heard something crack and then shatter, glass shards disintegrating into the Darkness of space.

Then, there was nothing.

" _Kylo?"_ he called through the Force bond.

Only silence answered him.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Hux woke in a cold sweat for the third time that night cycle, eyes darting around his dim room for shadows that were no longer there. He could almost feel the lingering sensation of wrinkled hands against his skin, and his body froze under the bed sheets out of instinct at the memory, his limbs refusing to listen to him as he tried to compose his thoughts back to the present, to reality.

Snoke was not here. Hux was safe in his own quarters on the _Finalizer._ The cut on his head was still healing, and the throbbing was not from the monster in his mind, but a rather painful concussion that Ben, Kylo, whatever that damned missing supreme leader wanted to be called, inadvertently gave him.

Ben. His chest constricted at the thought of the man, and he sat up slowly, finding that he could move again.

Hux let out an unsteady breath, groaning miserably as he attempted to massage the persistent headache away when his surroundings remained empty of any danger once again. A worried chirp from the side indicated that the med droid had returned, and relief flooded his system as it administered another dose of painkillers.

He waited impatiently for the pounding in his head to dull, the pangs fading to a comforting silence, before he threw the blanket off and slid out of bed. He ignored the droid's insistent beeps that he return to sleep and instead made a beeline to the small kitchen in his quarters. Hux grabbed the first glass he could find in the cupboard and proceeded to nearly inhale a much-needed cup of water for his parched throat. He exhaled in relief afterwards, rubbing his sleep-crusted eyes awake before heading to the living room area.

"I'm fine," he told the droid, who beeped almost dejectedly as it rolled to a corner of the room to await any further orders. He had made it through the first cycle on his own, but after the headaches intensified, Dr. Andrienne had insisted that he keep the droid with him until the end of his recovery.

Feeling just slightly more comfortable than earlier, Hux deposited himself on the couch and picked up his datapad to find a few hundred emails demanding his attention. The screening process of the men stationed on the three defected ships was going smoothly, and most of the remaining star destroyers have already been accounted for and have re-pledged their undying allegiance to the new supreme leader after Hux's display on Takodana. At the moment, it would do them no good to let the outside world know that they've currently lost the whereabouts of their supreme leader.

Mitaka and Igniv were currently overseeing the _Finalizer's_ operations in his absence and had taken up the search for Kylo furiously as promised with a few select officers, but their efforts had been fruitless thus far. To make matters worse, Dr. Andrienne extended his recovery period given the persistent headaches, and the two menaces seemed to be insistent on keeping him under house arrest until he was better.

Hux almost had to kill someone just to get his hands on the current datapad to secretly work from his quarters, but even then, the persistent headaches made sure he didn't get too far in his attempt at distractions either. A light wave of nausea reminded him as such, and Hux sighed, placing the datapad down.

Kylo was still missing. They were going nowhere like this.

A buzz made him look up from the couch, and he walked over to the door to see Igniv waving at him from outside through the display panel. Hux opened the door quickly, expecting some sort of new development from the Knight, especially in this ungodly hour.

"Since you're visiting me on my forced leave of absence, I assume that you bring good news?" he couldn't keep himself from blurting as soon as the door slid open to reveal the Knight. He was thankful that the other had some decency to actually knock. It also helped that Igniv didn't have access to all the ship's codes like Kylo did.

"Actually, I sensed some distress earlier, so I came to see if you were okay," Igniv replied, fidgeting almost nervously.

"I'm fine." He had to keep himself from sounding too bitter about the entire situation, but Kylo's absence and his own inability to do anything at the moment frustrated him to no end. "Have you found him yet?"

The look on Igniv's face already gave him the answer. "No luck," the Knight admitted.

"I see," Hux mumbled, averting his eyes to further avoid showing the other his building disappointment. He knew the capabilities of the First Order's technology to the teeth and deeply regretted that he had not went behind Snoke's back and installed a tracking device on Kylo's TIE silencer when he had the chance.

"Actually…" Hux looked up, finding the other swaying back and forth, movements still of a nervous boy about to deliver his first speech. Igniv sighed. "I've been meditating, and there was something I remembered that I think you should know. I'd rather we be fully prepared when we do find out where they are."

"At least you're still optimistic about finding them," Hux muttered.

Igniv bit his lip, eyes darting away as the man moved a strand of purple hair behind his ears. "I think I might know a little of Snoke's plan."

Hux looked at him, raising an eyebrow. He decided to wait for the Knight to continue, not able to decipher just what the other was implying at. He motioned for Igniv to sit and went to grab some more water from the kitchen, returning with two cups.

Igniv accepted the offering graciously, taking a small sip before continuing. "After we joined the Knights of Ren, Snoke sent us on various missions to 'strengthen' our Force abilities. Personally, I didn't particularly care for the duties of being an enforcer like the others, and he sensed this in the beginning."

"In other words, you weren't like Kylo," Hux noted.

The Knight nodded. "I was mostly sent on retrieval missions."

"Retrieval?" He couldn't fathom what sort of items that Snoke would need "retrieving." Then again, the former supreme leader's quarters were gaudily decorated the few times he had cared enough to pay attention to the countless priceless displays that had lined the walls and corridors. He shuddered at the memory, nearly spilling some of his water. He managed to steady his hand.

Igniv seemed to not notice his inner turmoil. "Ancient Sith tests. You probably already know that Snoke was well past his prime. He had been looking for a way to achieve immortality, to preserve his consciousness even after death."

Hux swallowed thickly, his throat suddenly dry. "Did he find it?"

Igniv shifted uncomfortably, fingers playing around his own mug. "Originally, I was just blindly searching for the books under his orders, but I got curious one time and looked inside one that I had retrieved." The man held back a shudder. "I was strictly reprimanded afterwards and forbidden to do it again."

Hux let out a breath. "What did you see?" Purple eyes met his.

"It was a way to transfer one's consciousness into another, to discard an old body in favor of a new, healthy, young one. But, there was one problem."

"Kylo was strong enough to hold his mind off?" Hux wagered a guess.

Igniv shook his head. "If that were the case, then he could have just controlled me or any other Knight instead on getting to Kylo. No, a sacrifice of equal Light is required to balance out the transition. In other words, a…"

"Jedi," Hux completed for him.

Igniv nodded. "More or less. He required sacrificing one who is strong with the Light. Of course, there are not many out there after the purge, especially ones that are pure of corruption. Hux, you have to be very careful."

Hux swallowed, unable to rid himself of the knot that had taken hold of his chest. If this were truly the case, then the transition must have not been completed yet. To his knowledge, there was only the girl and Luke Skywalker who were strong enough, but he didn't even know where the two are. He suddenly realized something.

"Was that why he was targeting so many Force-sensitives?"

Igniv shrugged. "Perhaps."

Hux found himself staring at the dark ceiling of his bedroom once again after Igniv had left, replaying their conversation in his head mercilessly as he thought about what he had seen. The force of their Force-bond breaking had left him reeling, and he was almost certain that the man had died. But, perhaps Kylo was not completely gone yet, and they could still save him if he found their location.

Or, maybe this was all just bait to lure him or the girl in to be a sacrifice. Even if they did find out Kylo's whereabouts, it was obvious that neither Igniv nor himself was strong enough to take on Snoke alone. He could always order the fleet to blow up whatever planet or ship they were on, but that would defeat the purpose of organizing a rescue.

But, what if he did rid himself of Snoke that way, a small voice asked in his head.

Then, it would just be him alone commanding the First Order. The thought of taking control of the First Order, of his own destiny, had driven him through its ranks, mercilessly tearing apart all that stood in his way until he found himself nearly at the top but still suffocated by the being that called itself Snoke. An opportunity like this would have made him ecstatic back then, a surefire way to both rid both the universe and himself of his abuser once and for all.

But, Kylo would be gone. If he carried out the attack, then he would have killed the one man who had offered him a way out, who had promised to protect him.

" _Armie."_

Kylo would be the innocent bystander in his quest for freedom, just as Jekri had been in his search for attachment.

Unable to take the silence or his own turbulent thoughts any longer, Hux bolted up from his bed before nearly plummeting to the ground as a wave of dizziness resulted from the sudden motion. He cursed and steadied himself with a hand on the bedside table, his fingers brushing against the lightsaber. Hux took the weapon in his hands, feeling some of the nausea dissipate as he stood up.

He eyed the open closet dispassionately, already seeing the potential agitation to his bandages, when a certain poncho caught his eye.

Hux was out in the corridors a few minutes later, hands clenched around his lightsaber and his unruly state hidden mostly by the poncho. His could already picture the confusion on his subordinates' faces, but he surprisingly did not encounter anyone as his feet took him aimlessly through the halls of the _Finalizer._

He didn't know exactly where he wanted to go. The bridge was out of the question; Igniv and Mitaka had done quite an almost admirable job of keeping him out of commission for the time being during his recovery, and he wasn't exactly in any shape to visit the gym in this state.

Instead, he found himself once again in front of the viewport Kylo had previously brought him. Hux swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat and entered.

The door whirled shut behind him, encasing him in the dim glow of the stars beyond the thick transparasteel windows as he stepped slowly towards them. The expanse of darkness stretched far beyond the ship, its emptiness littered with millions of tiny lights that all seemed to go on forever.

For a moment, he felt small, insignificant, nothing more than a speck of dust in the universe.

He was suddenly reminded of the clear blue water of the oceans of Arkanis on a sunny day, its magnificence stretching far into the horizon. He had felt similarly back then, gazing at the scene before him with awe while standing next to his mother.

And now, he was alone again. Kylo was gone.

Alone.

Hux slumped down to his knees, his hand still around the cold steel of his lightsaber.

He was nothing. Nothing. He longed to return to the waters of Arkanis, to sink into its warm depths, to disappear into the never-ending blue.

 _You've never been nothing to me._

Hux blinked. He remembered those words Kylo had told him. They felt like they were from a dream now, hope whispered to him when he was at his weakest. Dark eyes, soft lips that had promised to protect him.

They were gone. Kylo was gone.

He looked his trembling hands, the pressure building up in his chest as his breath hitched with realization. He had hungered, had sought out that beautiful warmth for so long that he had forgotten its name until it was torn from him once again.

His father had taken Arkanis, had taken his mother and Jekri away from him.

Snoke had taken Kylo.

Hux's grip tightened around the lightsaber and it ignited in a blazing white, crackling with energy as his despair filled the room, making the walls groan in protest with the Force. He could feel his control slipping, and he barely managed to catch himself before he turned his lightsaber off to prevent any unnecessary damage to his ship.

Hux blinked. The _Finalizer._ He still had his ship, still had Mitaka, Igniv, still had even the insufferable Peavey. The entire fleet of the First Order was currently in his control, a goal he had strived for since Brendol had forced him into its ranks. He clenched his fist.

He would use that power for himself now. Brendol was gone, and only Snoke stood in his way.

He would find Kylo and bring him back, even if the effort takes what remained of his forsaken life from his lungs.

Hux closed his eyes and breathed, the warm hum of his kyber crystal content beside him. His head still felt like it housed a pound of bricks, but it had always been turning too much, too hard, always thinking, always planning.

And, all the technology at their disposal was doing a dismal job at finding Kylo right now.

He took in a deep breath and dove into the Force.

.

The med droid beeped at him worriedly on the bridge, going in circles as it lamented its failure. Mitaka looked at him nervously, waiting for the expected repercussions, but Igniv merely held up a hand for the droid to stop moving about. Leave it to the general to disappear the moment the droid decided to return to the medbay to restock on supplies.

"Hey, calm down. He's still on the ship, and he's not currently in any distress. He'll be fine," he tried to reassure the med droid.

"But he's not in his room," Mitaka muttered. "What if…" Igniv stared at him pointedly, effectively keeping the lieutenant from giving anyone around them ideas.

"The general's a big boy. If he made it out of his room, then he's probably almost completely healed. He'll be barking orders at us in no time. Besides," his eyes flashed around the room, finding a dozen set of eyes suddenly returning to their assigned duties, "he has his lightsaber. If anyone tries anything, he'll just slice them in half."

"That's not reassuring, sir," Mitaka just had to comment.

Igniv snorted.

As if the world was made to prove him wrong, he felt a sudden heavy wave of the Force through the air, pulsating with anguish as it slammed into him. The sensation nearly stopped him dead in his tracks, but he managed to catch himself at the last moment and pretended to return to his current task at hand with the droid.

"I will go look for him. You'll be okay on the bridge, Lieutenant?" he announced, trying to keep his voice even despite the sweat that had started to roll down the side of his head.

He knew that Mitaka had already noticed his distress; the man was quite perceptive despite his docile demeanor, but the lieutenant hid his emotions well.

"We will continue our search for the supreme leader," the other mouthed before announcing that he would be fine.

Igniv grinned and excused himself as quickly as he could without seeming too rushed.

He followed the sensation across the ship, catching its waves repeatedly until he arrived at a door where it pulsated the most. Igniv gulped, the Force so heavy upon him now that it was like a heavy blanket threatening to suffocate him. He felt another surge that chilled him to his bones and opened the door, allowing the wave to wash over him as it will when he spotted the man in question across the room.

Hux sat in front of the huge transparasteel windows, the general's thin form clad in a poncho against the darkness of space, the man lost in a trance as the Force surged again around the room, making the walls creak with its power.

"General?" he called out cautiously, but no reply came from the other as he continued to make his way across the room. It was when he was standing right next to the general that everything suddenly went cold, the Darkness threatening to spill over into the ship, ready to engulf them both. "General!"

He grabbed the man's arm just as the Darkness leapt, and suddenly all was quiet once again as unfocused green eyes stared up at him while their owner blinked several times in confusion.

"Igniv?" the general finally said.

The arm under his hand was freezing.

"Let's get you back to your quarters, general," Igniv whispered, afraid to wake whatever beast that had almost swallowed them whole.

The man allowed Igniv to guide them through the ship back to the couch he had just occupied earlier that morning. He hurried into the kitchen in search of something to warm the general back up when his eyes fell on a packet of what looked like tea on the counter.

"Salted kelp tea," Igniv read allow as he waited impatiently for the water to boil. He returned to the living area several minutes later with a steaming mug and handed it to the general.

To his relief, life seemed to return to the man's eyes the second Hux took a sip, and the general drank the tea almost reverently, his eyes the warmest Igniv had ever seen them.

"You okay? You were pretty close to losing control there," Igniv inquired carefully.

"I know where he is," the general finally spoke, voice raspy and dry.

Igniv blinked. "Come again?"

"I found him."

.

Hux pulled on his boots with some difficulty, the throbbing in his head mercifully duller than the past few days but a persistent annoyance nonetheless. He had trusted Igniv to deliver the coordinates properly to Mitaka, and he had recognized the sharp inhale of the engine earlier indicating that they had entered lightspeed.

The planet was far from their current location, situated in the remotest regions of the galaxy in uncharted territory. Their jump was nearly blind, guided mainly by the coordinates dreamt to him by the Force. He sensed that it was a trap, no, he knew it was one, but they had no other viable plans, and it was a matter of time before Snoke found another potential Light-sided user to finalize the ritual.

He slumped down on the couch, choosing to take another dose of painkillers before he headed back out on the bridge. He had sent the droid away earlier, opting for a bottle of pills in lieu of the injections. The throbbing thankfully subsided fairly quickly despite the slower mechanism of delivery, and his eyes trailed to the lightsaber, its soft hum ever prevalent in the silence of his quarters.

He picked up the cold metal hilt and turned it in his hand, finding his traitorous nerves slightly comforted by the sight of its soft white glow.

Hux closed his eyes. He could still picture the location in his mind, as clear as one of the many blueprints he had memorized over the years.

 _The planet was an angry red, a mixture of sand and iron dust, its surface bare except for a single imposing structure erected long ago, an ancient Sith Temple with tall dark spires that stretched towards the heavens above. Angry black tendrils of Darkness sprung forth at him just as they had before, but he was ready this time, as his lightsaber pushed in front of him as an angry white wolf baring its fangs._

" _That's impossible,"_ someone gasped, tearing him away from his reverie as he looked up from his couch to see none other than the scavenger standing across from him. She had her staff up defensively, poised to strike.

"You're the scavenger," he breathed, accidentally letting the old title slip as he tried to reorient himself without her noticing.

" _Why are we connected like this?"_ she growled, eyes darting about at nothing in particular. He wondered if she was able to see his surroundings and idly imagined himself floating in midair, his couch invisible to her. Her attention returned to him, her fiery gaze the determined glare he remembered from their last meeting. _"Where is Ben?"_

Hux powered off his lightsaber, setting it down on the sofa beside him. "The infinitely wise supreme leader decided it was a brilliant idea to leave without telling anyone to take on Snoke," he nearly hissed. "Alone."

To his surprise, the girl lowered her weapon, eyes wide. _"He actually went alone? That nerfherder!"_

"There are a thousand other insults I'd also like to throw at him when we reach him," Hux muttered, feeling the anger drown out some of the apprehension he had been feeling. He supposed this was good. This way, he would be able to approach this with a clear mind as he had always done.

" _So, you know where he is?"_

Hux looked up, not expecting her interest. It was too dangerous he reasoned. If Snoke used her to complete the ritual, then this rescue mission would all be for naught. Yet, he knew it could just as easily be him. They were walking straight into a trap after all.

"I do. We are going there now as we speak."

" _Why?"_

Hux assumed that there was really no harm in telling her at this point. In fact, the knowledge could prompt the girl to stay away from Snoke. He fought the bile that threatened to rise up his throat as he recalled the conversation with Igniv. "Snoke is planning to take control of his body through what I presume to be some sort of Sith ritual. They require a sacrifice akin to a Jedi, I was told." He sighed, crossing his arms. "This might as well be a trap, but..." he trailed off, the reality of it all even more painful now that he had put it into words.

" _Wait, what are you going to do?"_ The girl seemed to not understand their current predicament. It was fine. He would put that into words too. Perhaps that would help him come up with a plan, stating the goal first.

"We're going in to save him."

She cocked her head to the side, still seemingly confused. Hux found himself equally puzzled. How hard was it to grasp a simple concept such as a rescue?

" _I don't understand,"_ the girl told him. _"The First Order is practically unguarded now. You can take it for your own. Isn't that what you wanted?"_

Most definitely not. "I don't want any of this!" he snapped, unable to keep himself from raising his voice. He took in deep breath, averting his eyes, knowing that she was staring at him strangely now.

Kylo. He just needed…

Kylo.

She seemed to sense the surface of his emotions, and he saw disbelief overtake the initial confusion. _"Come again?"_ She shook her head. _"No no, that does not make sense. I mean, yes you saved Takodana, but you… you're Starkiller."_

"I am," he admitted to her yet again. He was Starkiller under Snoke's control, but he was still Starkiller nonetheless, just as Kylo was the Jedi-killer. It was just something he will have to live with for the rest of his life. He closed his eyes. It was fine. He will live. He will not give in now, or Kylo was as good as dead, eaten alive by Snoke, just as he was. He shivered at the memory. "I am," he repeated.

Rey paused, her face contorted into something he could guess as pity. He decided not to think about it. He supposed she thought similarly as she changed the subject. _"How did you get a lightsaber?"_

"We built it from a kyber crystal I supposedly found in Arkanis. To be honest, I don't remember much of it." He picked up the weapon, twirling it in his hands. "And, I have to admit that I'm a little apprehensive. I'm not as accustomed to this style of combat."

The girl blinked at him. _"You're going to storm in there with nothing but a lightsaber and some stormtroopers?"_

Hux shook his head, almost laughing at the ridiculousness of it all. "No stormtroopers. He'll just turn them against us or slaughter them all on sight." He could almost picture the pile of bodies. "I still have Igniv," he added as an afterthought.

" _If it's Snoke, you're going to need more than that, Starkiller."_

"Are you volunteering?" he joked, managing to hold back the word "scavenger." As much as he would enjoy the banter, antagonizing the girl was not at the top of his priorities at the moment.

" _Rey."_

"Hm?"

" _My name is Rey,"_ she repeated.

He paused, studying her countenance closely. She was young, yet her eyes bore the hardships of a difficult childhood. They were similar in that regard he supposed.

"Armitage," he offered her his name after a moment. The word felt foreign on his lips.

Rey raised an eyebrow. _"I thought you were General Hugs."_

He made a mental note to himself to request the Resistance pilot's head in exchange for a truce if they ever decided to negotiate one.

"Just Armitage is fine."

Her features softened, and it was then that he spotted a soft glow between them, briefly flickering in and out on what looked like a table of some sort.

"What were you working on?" he returned her earlier question at her, and Rey flushed slightly.

" _N-nothing,"_ she stuttered, and Hux peered at the speck of light, not exactly expecting to find anything given the nature of their interaction, but to his surprise a pile of metal and what he sensed as a kyber crystal came into full view.

"That's…" His eyes widened at the remains of the lightsaber on the desk.

" _Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber,"_ she muttered. _"Ben and I tore it apart after he killed Snoke. I've been trying to fix it since."_

"I knew he was lying when he said that you killed Snoke," Hux contemplated out loud.

She bit her lip. _"He killed Snoke to protect me. Despite all his faults, I do still owe him my life."_

Hux stood up slowly, satisfied that the painkillers were working as he walked over a few steps to the dismantled lightsaber between them. "Let me take a look at it."

Rey blinked at him. _"Seriously?"_

 _._

"Snoke is still alive. He's on an uncharted planet located in the Outer Rim," Rey announced to the room, feeling their eyes survey her in surprise as she relayed the news. She supposed their response was expected; she doubted the information herself, but the repaired lightsaber hanging by her side was proof enough. "I have the coordinates"

"Seriously?" Poe was the first to speak. She nodded. "You're serious," he gasped almost in awe, leaning back in his chair. "So, should we go in and blow the place up before they decide to declare war on another planet?"

"But we're severely outnumbered at the moment. It would be suicide if we attacked them now," the girl called Rose commented quietly from the side. She had heard from Finn that the other had lost her sister recently, so Rey could somewhat understand Rose's reluctance in the matter. Yet, Armitage was going in nearly alone with or without her, and she wasn't about to let the Starkiller outdo her in their final moments.

"It won't just be us. There are others headed to the planet right now. We might be able to rendezvous with them there and take Snoke down," she reassured the girl, wondering how she could word this in a way that wouldn't cause mass suspicion among the others. Speaking with Ben was probably bad enough, and now this was the general of the First Order they were talking about, Starkiller himself.

Poe's eyes lit up, seemingly oblivious to her apprehension. "Others?"

"Ah…" She was already reconsidering her decision to mention the general.

"We've managed to make contact with our allies?" Lieutenant Connix joined in, the hope shining just as brightly in her eyes. Rey wanted to punch herself for letting them down.

She glanced at Leia, hoping for some way to salvage the situation without dropping Armitage's name. The general had remained silent throughout the conversation and even now she had a strange expression on her face, almost that of worry.

"Snoke's really taken Ben, hasn't he?" Leia queried, her usually stern voice low and almost resigned.

The entire room turned to the general.

Rey swallowed hard. "Yes. He's somehow taken control of Ben. If we don't stop whatever he's planning now, Snoke will become more powerful than ever, and we won't be able to stop him."

"Then the ones you are meeting…" the general trailed off.

She took a breath. "It's Armitage."

It took a moment for the room to react, not recognizing the general of the First Order's first name.

"A-Armitage?" To Rey's surprise, Kaiyo was the first one to come alive in the corner, her trembling hand steadying herself on a nearby seat as she took tentative step forward. The woman looked pale, as if she had seen a ghost. "Armitage Hux of Arkanis?" Kaiyo repeated. Rey didn't know what Arkanis was, but she supposed it had something to do with the First Order.

"I object!" Finn cut in before she could inquire further. "This is definitely a trap!"

"That snake would stop at nothing to destroy us," Rose added, fists clenched at her side. "Did you forget? He wiped out the Hosnian System just to prove a point!"

"He did do that," Rey admitted, "but this is different. Snoke took control of Ben, and Armitage is organizing a rescue mission to bring him back. You've all seen what happened at Takodana. They don't follow that monster anymore."

"This is still the First Order we're talking about," Rose replied, her eyes narrowing defiantly. "They can't be trusted."

Rey looked at Leia pleadingly but received no obvious response in the woman's eyes. "Look, if you won't help me, I'll go alone," she finally declared, really finding no other way to salvage the situation. If her own friends won't trust her in the matter, then there was really no one else she could turn to.

She could see Finn shift uncomfortably from the side. Rey really did feel sorry that she had put him into this predicament, but she refused to sit idly by when so much was at stake.

"Well, we could always split our forces." She looked at Poe, hand resting on his chin in contemplation. "We could have half of us up in the _Millennium Falcon_ waiting for extraction while a few of us go down to the planet for some reconnaissance. We'll just have to be extra careful that they don't see the ship."

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Finn muttered.

"You can stay on the ship and monitor the First Order at a distance. Let the ones on the ground know what's going on up in space while they look around," Poe offered, winking at Rey.

"Fine," Finn huffed.

Poe beamed, turning to Leia. "General?"

Leia sighed, massaging her head. "Just don't overdo it. If I say we leave, then you get off that planet immediately."

"Sounds like a plan! I'll go down with Rey then," Poe declared, flashing her a smile. "Can't let you go down there alone now, can I? If one of us gets hurt, the other can signal for the _Millennium Falcon_ to extract us. Any other volunteers?"

The others in the room shifted uncomfortably. Rey knew that they still thought that this was a reckless move on their part, especially given the fact that the Resistance had currently been reduced to a freighter ship.

"I request to come with you as well." The room turned to Kaiyo, and Rey could feel a slight surge of the Force around them, bristling with determination.

She smiled, feeling somewhat comforted by the woman's conviction. "I'll be counting on you."

* * *

Thank you reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclamer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Hux stared down at the red planet as the _Finalizer_ hovered above its atmosphere, the lone dying star in the system casting an eerie glow across the sand dunes below. He could spot a speck of black in the midst of the barren wasteland and knew it was the temple that he saw in his vision, confirmed when a chill seemed to spread through his bones and strike him at his very core. His fingertips unconsciously grazed the hilt of his lightsaber, finding some comfort in the familiar hum that he had become accustomed to.

"Looks like your vision was right," Igniv muttered besides him, an indiscernible expression on the man's usually relaxed face. Hux held back a shudder as another wave of Darkness seemed to wash over him, whispers from shadows long gone. The Knight winced slightly, seeming to also sense the disturbance. "Snoke's power is growing. We'd best move in soon."

They found themselves in the shuttle bay shortly after, their _Upsilon-_ class shuttle prepped and ready for takeoff with a TIE fighter squadron as an escort. The pilots inside were making their final preflight checks, and Hux could sense the anticipation thick in the air. They had given their men the bare minimum about their mission, but at this point anyone with even a speck of affinity for the Force could feel the heavy Darkness in the system.

"Let them know that their only job is to cover our landing. They are to remain on standby once we make it to the surface if there are no hindrances," he told Mitaka, who gave him a curt nod. The lieutenant seemed more pale than usual, hands twisting nervously as the man's eyes glanced from the shuttle back to him. "Is something the matter, Lieutenant?" he inquired, already knowing what was on the man's mind.

"Sirs, I would advise to at least take some stormtroopers," Mitaka insisted, nearly choking on his words. "We don't even know what's down there."

Hux shook his head, almost touched at the other's concern. "I've already given you my orders, Lieutenant."

"Yeah, Snoke will either slaughter them or turn them against us," Igniv added. "You've already seen what he did with the _Dominion_. The general doesn't want the same thing happening to the others."

"But," Mitaka swallowed, shoulders slumping in defeat under his gaze.

"We'll be back soon, okay?" Igniv reassured the man, placing a hand on the other's shoulder. Hux noticed the light squeeze the Knight gave Mitaka, fingers lingering longer than necessary. He looked away pointedly, ignoring the strange fluttery sensation in his stomach that had decided to take place while he observed the exchange. This was all new to him, buried under years of conditioning from Brendol, and he hadn't decided if he disliked it quite yet.

They were soon on their way down to the planet, their pilot silently steering the shuttle towards the temple as Hux watched the descent wordlessly through the transparasteel windows. Igniv remained uncharacteristically quiet in his chair, eyes distant as the man seemed to be caught up in his own thoughts.

Hux hadn't really thought much of what to bring other than an extra blaster in addition to his usual SE-44C blaster pistol, the monomolecular blade always hidden up his sleeve, and of course, the lightsaber. The anticipation was churning in his stomach now, and he held back the urge to vomit, regretting that he had neglected to bring an extra bottle of anti-emetics from the ship. To his relief, the headaches had all but subsided by the time they had dropped out of lightspeed, but nothing could prepare him for the ordeal he was about to face.

He closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as he tried to picture the beach in his dreams, basked in the orange rays of the setting sun.

 _He found his sanctuary effortlessly, this time occupied by a familiar shadow of a man with soft black hair. His breath hitched with emotion, yearning to take the other's hand and guide the man back to him, away from the desolate red planet he was currently making his descent into._

 _Ben turned to him, eyes wide with surprise._

" _Armitage? Why did you follow me?"_

"Where should we land, sir?"

Hux snapped out of his reverie as he leaned over in his seat, already finding the imposing temple approaching in the horizon with no signs of the enemy in sight as their TIE fighter squadron followed beside them.

"They probably saw us already. There's not much in this desert," Igniv commented from his seat.

Hux swallowed thickly, knowing that the Knight was right. "Land to the side on that hill. It'll give us a little bit of coverage before we move in."

"Yes, sir."

The ship landed without any disturbances, the engines slowly powering down as the sound of wind roared around them. Hux silently regretted wearing only his standard uniform and thought longingly of his poncho, likely too warm for this weather, when a tap on his shoulder disturbed his thoughts, and he looked up to see Igniv handing a black garment of some sort to him.

"It looks quite windy out there. Can't have you choking on sand before you even get inside the temple," the Knight chortled, characteristic grin back on the man's face.

"Thanks," he muttered as he took the cloak, throwing it over his shoulders.

As predicted, a warm wind blew mercilessly at them as soon as the shuttle door lowered, and they quickly made their way to the sand. Hux peered through the pair of binoculars he had brought with him, surveying the temple structure for any entrances besides the obvious front door, a massive hole that seemed to house an invisible barrier that stopped the sand from entering.

"So, what's the plan? Storm in through the front door?" Igniv asked, squinting against the dust as another gust of wind blew up the sand around them.

Hux pulled the side of the cloak tighter around his face, peering into the binoculars at the other walls of the temple. From what he could make out through the relentless sandstorm, the fortress lacked even windows, and the front door seemed to be their only option at this point.

"Might not be a bad idea. There's some sort of barrier that's keeping the sand out of it though. I wonder what would happen if we tried to step through," he yelled back through the roar of the wind.

"We could throw something at it," Igniv suggested.

He would snort if another gust wind didn't choose to blow over them at that moment. The two of them made their way down the small hill, sliding on the fine red sand as they cautiously approached the massive entrance. A cold draft greeted them as they neared the entryway, a steady stream of air that seemed to come from the depths of the temple. It was then Hux realized that he wasn't looking at a barrier earlier. Rather, the constant flow of air from within the structure kept any of the red sand from entering.

Igniv nodded to him and they made their way into the dim entrance, the dust mercifully disappearing as soon as they walked up the steps into the dimly lit compound, the howling of the wind outside a stark contrast to the deathly silence that greeted them. Hux pulled his cloak tighter around him despite the lack of sand, now trying to draw whatever heat he could to fight against the eerie cold as they silently made their way through the main hall, their footsteps echoing on the pale stone.

" _I guess they couldn't afford a welcoming party,"_ he heard Igniv's voice in his head.

" _Keep your guard up,"_ he returned. _"It's too quiet."_

" _Yeah, you could say that aga- ah!"_

Hux nearly slammed into the man ahead of him before he ignited his lightsaber only to find himself face to face with a line of at least a dozen humanoids clad in blood red armor not unlike the Praetorian Guards that Snoke kept around him back on the late _Supremacy_. It took him another moment to realize that they had not reacted to him drawing his weapon. In fact, they almost felt…

"The ones inside are no longer of this world," Igniv muttered, purple eyes surveying the closet guard. Hux could spot the other's hand on the hilt of his own lightsaber.

" _What the hell."_ Hux peered inside the helm of one of the guards, unable to make out what was underneath the armor, before he took a few steps back, well enough away from the vibro-voulge it still carried. He reluctantly powered off his lightsaber and hurried after Igniv, who was already a few steps ahead of him looking at some engraved transcriptions on the wall.

Hux squinted at the ancient text scratched into the black stone wall, its lines harsh yet carefully written. _"Are you able to read it?"_

" _Here lie the temple's most devoted worshippers, sworn to protect her even in death."_ Igniv's hand slowly moved to his own lightsaber again. _"That means…"_

Hux held his breath as he heard something shift behind him.

" _There's too many of them,"_ Igniv said.

"Run!" Hux gasped, taking off just as he felt the heat from a plasma weapon barely miss his cheek. He heard Igniv close behind him along with the uneven patter of footsteps hot on their trail, their owners moving on them in a wave of red.

" _They're movements are strange,"_ Igniv commented, glancing behind at the hoard. _"The energies here are old. They must be wearing off after so many years."_

" _If you haven't noticed, they're still chasing us!"_ Hux hissed before seeing a small corridor to the side. _"Here!"_ he grabbed Igniv and pulled the man with him at the last second, the swarm of red moving past them like a river as they ducked behind the corner. The footsteps disappeared down the main hallway, leaving them in silence once again. _"They're not very smart. Let's keep going before they noticed that we're gone."_

The two of them made their way quickly down their current hallway, the Darkness seeming to grow in intensity despite the lack of temple guards. Hux supposed that this was a good sign that they were going the right way at least. They ducked behind another corner when they spotted another group of guards, nearly colliding with a smaller, soft body. Hux stopped himself from igniting his lightsaber at the last second when he found himself staring at none other than Rey.

He let out the breath he had been holding as Igniv gaped at the girl in surprise.

"You actually came," Hux whispered, trying to hide his disbelief. To be honest, he hadn't really been counting on her help. Even if he had managed to come to an understanding with the girl, he knew that the Resistance hated him with good reason.

Rey scowled. "I don't go back on my word, Armitage." She looked at Igniv, seeming to size him up. She relaxed after a moment, seeming to decide that he was no threat to her. "You must be the one other person Armitage was talking about. I'm Rey."

"Igniv," the Knight replied. "Are you here alone?"

She shook her head. This was even more of a surprise for Hux. Not only had the girl come to his aid on her own accord, but she had somehow convinced her friends to help her. No doubt that they would try to turn the situation to their advantage if given the chance, but if this would help Kylo, then he could care less.

"We split up after the guards started chasing us. Poe and Kaiyo lured them away from me," she whispered, her gaze trailing to her feet, teeth clenched in frustration.

"I see." Igniv closed his his eyes, seeming to spread his senses through the compound as he took a careful breath. "I don't sense any fighting yet, so they may still be okay," he commented.

"Yeah," she muttered before sighing. "Poe did say he was pretty good at escaping when he's outnumbered. He has Kaiyo with him too, so..." she trailed off, obviously not trusting her own reassurances to herself.

Leave it to his luck to have none other than the infamous Poe Dameron also on the planet, Hux thought bitterly, and Kaiyo… The name sounded oddly family, yet he couldn't pull a face from any database that they had of the Resistance.

"Kaiyo," he repeated quietly to himself. The image of an ocean came to mind.

" _We need to move,"_ Igniv muttered in his head, breaking off his dive into his muddy memories.

Hux let out the breath he had been holding in slowly, deciding that he would get to the bottom of this later. "We'll rendezvous with them after we find Snoke," he tried to reassure the girl. She nodded somewhat reluctantly.

He peered around the corner, finding the hallway clear once more and nodded to the others, seeing the determination in their eyes. Hux swallowed his own uneasiness and took a deep breath before stepping out into the corridor again, following the Darkness deeper into the temple grounds with Igniv and Rey close behind.

.

They stopped before a massive door engraved in the same language they had seen earlier at the entrance, its fine lines a glistening red against the polished black stone. Igniv shifted uneasily as he felt yet another wave of Darkness wash over him from the room within, almost as if it were threatening them to enter its depths.

"Can you read what that says too?" the general asked, the man's normally stern disposition also filled with uncertainty and the beginnings of what he recognized as fear.

"Unfortunately, no. This one's too complex even for me," Igniv replied. To be perfectly honest, he knew exactly what the passage read, but to utter its blasphemy out loud right before facing Snoke was bound to unnerve the two standing beside him even more.

"How do you even know how to read this?" Rey inquired, an almost naïve glint in her eyes that broke through whatever fear she must have been feeling. He supposed he had a similar expression before when he had first ventured forth in search of Snoke's precious books.

"You gain certain skills when your mission is to search for ancient Sith texts." He looked back at the black door, the wave of Darkness unrelenting against him, trying to pull him in. Igniv took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "You guys ready?"

The general nodded and took a step forward, pushing the door open firmly with a gloved hand. Despite its size, the structure swung open quite easily, its old hinges creaking as it moved aside to reveal a large chamber with a throne in the middle occupied by none other than Kylo. Two hooded figures stood next to him, their hidden gazes directed straight ahead.

Igniv held back a gasp when he looked into his friend's face, the man no longer recognizable under the familiar silky black hair and scar. Kylo's dark expressive eyes were a sickly yellow, and he could make out heavy wrinkles lining his friend's formerly smooth young face as they approached the trio.

He could sense the general tremble beside him, the man's mind simultaneously going blank.

" _Keep it together, General,"_ he tried to reassure the other, but the man gave him no response, pale green eyes fixated on Kylo.

Igniv felt himself falter slightly when the one on the right removed his hood to reveal none other than Skaara, face much more gaunt and thin than the last time he had seen him. Despite his efforts, his breath hitched as his body inadvertently broke into a cold sweat, his own breaths picking up as he tried to calm down while Kylo and the two Knights waited for them to approach.

"Welcome," Kylo, no, Snoke leered, clasping his hands together. The man turned to Hux, who remained blank to Igniv, almost as if the general had turned into a doll. "Well done, bringing everyone here. I knew you could convince them to come with you."

"Just what do you want from us?" Rey demanded, moving in front of the general when Snoke stood up from his seat.

The man sneered, sizing her up slowly as he walked down the few steps, his movements almost that of a shadow. "If you control the Light, then you control the Darkness. And you, dear child, are the perfect candidate for finalizing the conversion, the rebirth of my Kylo Ren."

It all made sense to him now. Snoke had not just been expecting him and Hux. No, the man had wanted Rey as well, had probably counted on the general on somehow convincing this girl that he had heard so much about through his channels to come here and become the sacrifice to finalize the bond. He didn't understand why Snoke couldn't have simply used Hux; the general was much more accessible and much less experienced with the Force than either of them from what he could tell. There was something more, something he was missing.

"He's not yours," a quiet voice cut through the cold blanket of Darkness like a hot knife. Igniv looked at Hux, the man's hands clenched at his sides. The blank slate had been replaced by a raging fire, and he could feel the Force flickering around the man, ready to strike.

Snoke seemed to regard the general for a moment, eyes glistening with an indiscernible expression. "Is that so?" the man muttered, shaking his head. "Look what he's done to you. This Light is not you." He sighed. "It matters not. It will be over soon."

The man snapped his fingers, and Skaara and the other Knight took a step forward.

" _Kill the traitor first. Bring Hux and the girl to me when you've finished. I want them alive,"_ he could hear Snoke's voice echoing throughout the room. The creature smirked and turned to leave as the two rounded on them. Igniv took a step back, his hand refusing to listen to him as his old friends drew their lightsabers without hesitation.

Rey ignited her own lightsaber with a cry, blocking the first blow directed at Igniv before pushing the Knight away.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at him. "Fight!"

"I…" he faltered.

It was just Skaara now, and he found himself staring at the general's back as Hux parried a blow from the man, throwing the other off with some difficulty given his thinner frame.

" _Keep it together, Igniv,"_ Hux threw his words back at him. Igniv smiled and pushed him aside towards the door Snoke had disappeared through. He could see confusion in the general's eyes as he ignited his own red lightsaber before standing between Skaara and Hux.

" _Go after Ben. We'll catch up."_

" _But…"_ Hux began to protest.

" _Go!"_

Hux spared him a final glance before shutting off his lightsaber and running through the door.

Skaara spun his lightsaber swiftly once, rounding on him as the two circled each other quietly, Igniv's eyes locked with the man's. The other had changed much since they left the Jedi academy. Skaara's once soft countenance had been hardened by years of battle and bloodshed, the man's face riddled with the beginning lines of age. The once warm eyes were sunken and bloodshot, and plush lips that once whispered softly to him at night were dry and cracked.

The man licked his lips hungrily as if he knew that Igniv was staring at them.

"We could still fix things," he offered, nearly pleaded. His lightsaber trembled in his hand.

"It's too late, Igniv. You know that," the other drawled. Skaara lunged and he dodged to the side, parrying effortlessly before putting some distance between them once again.

"You're always running," the man scoffed, "even back at the temple with Skywalker. You were running from your true nature."

"I left the temple for you! You're the reason why I'm still here," he faltered. "I betrayed them all for you, Skaara." His grip tightened on his lightsaber. "You don't know how many times that I've wished that I hadn't."

Skaara laughed. "Then you would have been dead, just as you will soon be."

A scream echoed from the other side of the room, and he looked up in time to see Rey pull her lightsaber out of the Knight's chest. His breath hitched as he felt the sudden emptiness, and he pulled himself together with some difficulty as she turned to him, eyes flashing from adrenaline not unlike a hungry beast.

"Go after the general!" Igniv mouthed to her before turning his attention back to Skaara, the other still staring him down intently with those sunken gold eyes. To his relief, he heard her hurried steps fade away, indicating that she had went after Ben and the general.

"How honorable of you," Skaara drawled, still keeping his distance and their lightsabers far apart. "I always took you for a coward."

"I was a coward," he admitted quietly. "I should have let you go long ago."

The man lunged at him, and Igniv barely managed to parry the blow before another came at him. He swiped away the other's blade, their lightsabers crackling with energy as they made contact. Skaara continued the merciless assault, and soon Igniv found himself being forced backwards, the wall of the room fast approaching as the larger man attempted to back him into a corner.

"Weak, as always," Skaara commented, showing no signs of distress as he swung again.

Igniv managed to duck and roll away, reversing their positions as Skaara twirled his lightsaber, eyes lit up with amusement.

"So, the dog does have a few tricks left up his sleeve."

"Shut up!" Igniv snarled as he lunged forward with renewed vigor, forcing Skaara back. He had waited too long, hoped for too long, for this to go on any further. A well-placed swing caught the other by surprise, and he forced Skaara's lightsaber away before pointing his own against the other's throat. He swallowed thickly, his hand unable to progress any further as he stared into the other's eyes.

"Do it," Skaara whispered, a sneer making its way across the man's face. The other laughed when Igniv still found himself rooted to the spot, unable to press forward.

"Why did you let him control you? You're stronger than this," Igniv choked out, his grip tightening around his lightsaber. "Wasn't that why you left? For power?"

Not for me, he kept himself from saying.

He could see the other's eyes light up the way they always did when the two of them planned out their escapades back at the temple. The words that came out of the other's mouth made him falter despite his better judgement.

"I was shielding you from Snoke."

Igniv's hand shook, his mind momentarily sent into a flurry of emotions as Skaara's grin softened to a smile. He knew that smile as a boy, a smile for him so long ago. Then, it disappeared as quickly as it came, and Skaara sent him flying with the Force. Igniv slammed into the side of the throne, groaning as he managed to land on his feet, his vision swimming before him as he saw the other advance on him, lightsaber raised.

The man laughed and raised the red beam of light.

"Gullible fool."

He dodged at the last moment, feeling a slight burning on his shoulder before he lunged, thrusting his own lightsaber into Skaara's chest. The blow made contact and the heat subsided, leaving only a dull ache in his arm as he let go of his own weapon in surprise, dropping to his knees as he caught the Knight's descending body and guided the other to the floor.

"Are you happy now?" he whispered, his throat closing up as he choked back his heart.

Skaara's face softened to a smile as the man's eyes closed.

.

Hux burst through the double doors at the end of the corridor, finding Snoke's back to him as the man studied one of the artifacts on display in what looked like a miniature treasury.

"You've really exceeded my expectations, Hux," the man drawled, turning to face him as Hux felt another wave of Darkness wash over him as if it were coming from the walls of the temple itself. "You never know what to expect from even the most insignificant of creatures."

Snoke laughed to himself, the sound reverberating through his bones, and a distant memory clawed to the surface, an amused rumble of the former supreme leader as Hux struggled against the bindings around his wrists. He shuddered inwardly, his hands suddenly frozen at his side. He could feel the Darkness thick around him now, cementing him to where he stood.

"Do you know that the ones who built this temple were sacrificed to become its guardians? The bond has weakened over the years, so I was able to put them to appropriate use."

He heard the footsteps approach behind him, had tried to reach for his lightsaber hanging by his side under the cloak, but he was unable to move, unable to fight back when cold arms grabbed him roughly and forced him to the floor. His rational mind screamed at him to move, but all sensations had gone blank to him, replaced by his instinct to go limp. Even if Snoke pulled the Force off of him now, he would not be able to move.

"Be a good boy and lie there and watch, Hux. I will take care of you shortly," Snoke murmured in that disgusting leering tone that always made him want to vomit. Yet, he was pinned to the ground by the dead guards, unable to move.

"Armitage!" he heard Rey's voice before she ran into the room, her lightsaber raised and poised to strike. She ran to him instantly, but a wave of Snoke's hand instantly sent her flying back through the air towards one of the glass displays. Rey seemed to catch herself in midair with the Force, breaking out of Snoke's grip before landing unharmed on her feet, eyes glistening with determination.

"Oh, you've learned a few tricks," Snoke remarked, lips curling into a smirk. "No matter." He lit Kylo's lightsaber, pointing it towards Rey.

Rey ran at him with a cry, lunging at Snoke's sword arm. The other deflected her effortlessly, his movements much too fluid compared to Ben, the precision of each his strikes sending the girl backwards with a relentless force.

"You'll make the perfect sacrifice," he chortled, throwing her back with another strike only for Rey to right herself and slash at him again. "Watch, Hux. This is where your delusions of hope have led you."

One particular slash came close to the girl's jugular, and the next knocked her off balance. Snoke raised his hand and sent Rey flying through the air again, this time keeping his hold on the Force until she slammed into the wall and slid down to the floor in a heap. The man smiled as he walked over to the girl, lightsaber raised for the kill.

"Get away from her!" Hux called the Force to him in an angry burst, throwing the two guards off of him as he summoned his lightsaber to his hand. His grip tightened on the hilt as he jumped between Snoke and Rey.

A bright white light flashed through the room, followed by a deafening roar as their lightsabers connected. Yellow irises blinked once, eyes momentarily Ben's again, before Snoke returned.

"Stand down, Hux," he whispered.

"Release him," Hux snarled, his own hands quivering under the sheer strength of the other.

Snoke almost looked forlorn. The man's face wrinkled in discomfort, and Hux felt himself pushed further down. "He's fighting it even more now. I do not have much time left," Snoke muttered, almost to himself.

"Good," Hux hissed, channeling his rage into the lightsaber. However, Snoke was too strong, and he started sliding back from the sheer force of the other's push.

Snoke laughed, his voice a near insane rumble as he continued to step forward, forcing Hux back.

"No, that look doesn't suit you. Must I teach you your place again, rabid cur?"

Hux noticed Snoke's hand on the lightsaber loosen a moment too late, and he was suddenly engulfed by the Force, the monster's consciousness slicing through his mind, tearing it open for all the memories to gush out.

He gasped, stumbling back as he felt invisible hands around him, hands pushing him down, stripping him of all he was, cold hands. The humiliation and helplessness came flooding back in droves, emotions he had locked away deep in his mind when the monster had finally been slain by Ben.

He was weak, a mere toy.

"I don't want it to be you. You belong to me."

He gasped, fighting to keep his mind away from his nightmares as Snoke's consciousness continued to pry away layer after layer from him. He could feel tears on his face, signs of his weakness, his failures. He no longer saw Ben in front of him, but a withered disfigured creature that called itself Snoke.

"Ben Solo is dead," the monster breathed.

He closed his eyes.

" _Ben..."_ he projected as loud as he could into their now non-existent Force-bond. Snoke had not been lying. All he heard was emptiness.

Emptiness.

"You are nothing," he heard Snoke's voice coming from the creature in front of him.

 _Nothing. He was nothing._

It was then, in small corner of his mind, that he remembered Ben's words to him that day, a whisper of days long past.

" _You've never been nothing to me."_

"Armitage!" he heard Rey gasping behind him.

 _There were hands upon him, pushing him down into the silk sheets as the creature hovered above him, its cruel smile triumphant._ He fell to his knees, still holding onto his lightsaber as the other forced him down.

" _Ben, I'm sorry…"_ his lips trembled even as the words flowed through the empty bond.

 _He was on the beach again, the sun almost sunken under the waves in the horizon. He took a step forward before hesitating. Armitage turned around, finding Ben still standing on the shore, waiting for him. The man's eyes were hollow._

" _Don't leave me," he said, feeling the traitorous tears welling in his eyes. "Please…"_

 _Those dark eyes flickered slightly._

" _I…"_

His grip slackened on the lightsaber as he felt his strength give way.

"Get away from him!" a roar echoed through the room, its fury engulfing the air around them as the heat of the lightsaber in front of him suddenly pulled away.

Hux opened his eyes as the Force around him lifted, his lungs free to breathe once again. Snoke took a step back, eyes wide with surprise and something that almost looked like fear before he writhed. A thick black cloud erupted from around him, thrown away from his body as the wrinkles disappeared and familiar expressive dark eyes returned.

Ben blinked, looking down at his own hands as if unsure of his own body before the cloud around them roared and dispersed through the walls of the temple.

It was a moment before Hux stared at the outstretched hand in front of him.

"B-Ben?" he quavered.

The other's eyes were wet. "Hey, Armitage," Ben said almost guiltily.

Armitage took the hand and slowly stood up, his own body still shaking with the earlier onslaught of memories. He fought the urge to shy away from the touch, still remembering the hands upon him, when Ben pulled him into an embrace.

"I'm sorry," the man whispered in his ear.

Armitage relaxed under the familiar warmth, burying his face in the other's chest. "You have a lot explaining to do back on the _Finalizer_ ," he hissed. "Fucking nerfherder," he added for good measure.

Ben chuckled. "What a vulgar mouth."

"You completely deserve it," Rey added fuel to the fire, brushing herself off as she picked up her lightsaber from the ground with a trembling hand.

He snorted in Ben's arms, unwilling to leave their safety before feeling the comm in his pocket buzz. Puzzled, Armitage pulled away from Ben to pick up the device, surprised that Mitaka would contact him now of all times. He hoped that Peavey hadn't decided to start a coup in their absence.

"Report," he barked into the device, feeling some of his old habits return now that Ben was back with him.

"Sir, the temple's energy readings are going off the charts. You need to get out of there now!"

As if on cue, a rumble echoed through the walls, followed by a massive wave of Darkness.

"Something's coming," Rey whispered as the two guards Armitage had thrown to the side earlier stood up.

* * *

Thank you for reading!


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

* * *

Both Ben and Rey immediately ignited their lightsabers in unison and met the blows of the two guards simultaneously, almost akin to a dance if Armitage had to describe it poetically, the crackles from the clashing plasma vibrating through the walls of the room. It was fascinating to watch the two Force-users fight side by side, and he would have felt the pangs of jealousy if not for another wave of five sentries rushing through the open door, weapons ignited.

" _I will not let you leave here alive,"_ he could hear Snoke's voice echoing from the walls as if the former supreme leader had taken possession of the temple itself. Armitage whipped out his blaster in reflex and fired a well-placed shot into the helmet of the nearest guard only to have the beam deflect harmlessly off into one of the glass displays, shattering it.

He realized then that their armor was exactly the same as the ones Snoke's Praetorian Guards had worn, equipped with mag-coils that deflected most blaster beams and even some lightsaber strikes at certain angles. Ben and Rey seemed to already know this as they dispatched the first two with thrusts through the helmets before turning on the newcomers, managing to engage another two while Armitage found himself face to face with the remaining guards. He cursed silently to himself and drew his lightsaber instead.

Armitage managed to catch the first vibro-voulge with his weapon, huffing under the strength of the other as he parried the blow and ran his lightsaber through the red chest plate. To his relief, the guard's movements went limp, and the suit of armor collapsed into a pile on the floor like a puppet whose strings had been severed.

" _Behind you!"_ he heard Ben's voice in his head, and he whirled around to block another vibro-voulge just in the nick of time, feeling the heat from their weapons against his face. Armitage kicked at the guard's knees, loosening their deadlock just enough for him to duck below the voulge staff and slash at the unprotected shoulder joint. However, the guard shifted aside at the last moment, and he missed, his weapon skimming the surface of the armor before it was knocked out of his hand.

Gritting his teeth, Armitage grabbed the handle of the vibro-voulge before the guard could use it and shoved the suit of armor backwards, causing the other to stumble slightly. It gave him just enough time to unsheathe the hidden monomolecular blade from under his sleeve and jam it into the enemy's neck, feeling the other go limp against him before he wrenched it out.

He did not have time to gloat as he heard the hum of another blade behind him and turned to engage it only to see his enemy frozen with its sword raised above its head, a red lightsaber glowing between its rib cage.

Igniv pulled out his weapon before pushing the suit of armor aside nonchalantly with the _Force_. The Knight looked a little singed on one shoulder and the man's eyes puffy, but besides those two observations the other seemed relatively unharmed much to Armitage's relief. The general let out the breath he had been holding in and picked up his lightsaber as Ben and Rey rushed over to them, having dispatched the remaining two guards.

"What's going on?" Rey asked, eyes darting around her as the temple walls seemed to let out a wail, the sound rumbling throughout the hallways outside.

"This temple was built exclusively for the ritual to transfer one's consciousness to another," Igniv explained. "If a user of the Dark Side is deemed worthy, his soul will be protected by the temple itself even in the event that there is no strong viable host."

"Was this the inscription on the door earlier?" Armitage inquired, recalling the Knight's momentary pause in front of the huge door leading to the throne room.

"I didn't want to make you guys panic any more than you were," the man admitted, shrugging. "But, it's rather useful information for us now. Destroy the temple, and you destroy him."

"Sounds simple enough," Armitage muttered as he produced his comm from his pocket, thankfully finding the object still intact. Ben gave him a curious stare, raising an eyebrow in question. "Mitaka?" he called into the device.

"Yes, sir?" the lieutenant's relieved voice came from the other side.

"Ready the _Finalizer's_ cannons at the temple. Get ready to fire as soon as we are clear of the entrance."

Rey grabbed his arm firmly before he could continue. "I'm not leaving without the others."

He nodded dryly, knowing that there was no way to convince her otherwise.

"I can somewhat sense them towards the direction of the entrance," Igniv offered. "It doesn't seem like they've engaged in any fighting yet."

"Then let's find them before the guards do," Armitage muttered when they heard another series of footsteps approaching.

They hurried through the hallways of the temple, Ben's wrath unmatched as the man took down guard after guard. Armitage was thankful that the other still had so much energy left in him after all that had happened. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the onslaught from earlier still left him numb, and he could feel his weariness start to catch up as they continued down the long corridors.

It didn't help when they nearly crashed headfirst into one of the two they had been searching for, Rey redirecting herself at the last moment by landing in the Resistance pilot's arms instead of slicing him in half.

"Thank goodness you're alive!" she exclaimed.

"Same to you," Poe laughed, clearly relieved. His joy was immediately cut short when he noticed her entourage, and Armitage found some amusement in seeing the quick change in the angle of the man's eyebrows. "I see you've brought the party to me this time."

"As much as I'd like to celebrate, we need to leave. Now," Armitage told him curtly before looking around the man in search of Rey's other companion.

"Kaiyo's scouting up ahead," Poe explained. "Figured you might need an escape route."

"From what we saw outside, there is only the front door," Igniv pointed out.

"Oh, lovely," the pilot muttered.

"Enough, let's move," Ben announced impatiently, throwing Armitage a quick glance before continuing down the corridor. The general could feel his heart skip a beat at the gesture, wondering if the other had noticed his exhaustion. He nodded to the others and followed the supreme leader.

They emerged in the massive main hallway soon enough, the light from the front entrance casting an eerie glow throughout the chamber, now suspiciously void of any guards. Armitage hadn't counted earlier, but he was certain that there were more than the ones they had cut down on their way there. He listened cautiously to the sounds of their footsteps echoing along the massive walls before the hum of a collective of plasma weapons buzzed through the air.

As predicted, about a dozen red soldiers suddenly rounded the corner as if summoned by his own thoughts, quickly surrounding them. It was then that the room erupted into chaos, with the three other Force-users jumping into the fray in a flurry of plasma weapons and lightsabers. Armitage found himself slowly separated from them, dodging the nearest sword before he could run his lightsaber through its owner's helmet. He could see Poe in the corner of his eye unsuccessfully trying to shoot at the guards, the man's blaster bolts bouncing harmlessly away.

"What the hell?" the Resistance pilot hissed, backing away from the fray.

"There are mag-coils in the armor, fool. Blaster fire will just be reflected," Armitage growled, knowing that it was matter of time before one of those shots ricocheted and hit one of them. He supposed the next best thing was to throw one of the discarded weapons from the enemy at the man to use, eyeing one of the swords on the ground.

Before he could even start to carry out his plan, it all happened in a blur as Armitage watched the closest guard beat him to it and hurl a plasma dagger towards Poe with Rey screaming as she tried to catch it with the _Force._ Armitage could sense Snoke behind the blade, maneuvering it away from Rey's powers as it zeroed in on the Resistance pilot. He himself was only a few meters away, and he involuntarily took a step, then another, and then lunged at Poe, knocking both of them to the ground as the blade whirled away and his lightsaber skidded across the floor.

"Armitage!" he could hear Ben yell as he attempted to get back to his feet, but the pain that shot through his rib cage sent him straight back down to the ground. He didn't understand what had happened, and it wasn't until he turned his head to the side that he saw the damage, a barely cauterized wound against his side still bleeding from the incision. He reasoned that the blade must have somehow sliced him when he threw the other to the ground, thanks to Snoke.

"Ah, shit!" He felt Poe sit up and start shooting over him, the beams deflecting harmlessly off of the guard that had thrown the weapon who was now walking towards them slowly with the other vibro-blade raised. "There's got to be a spot!"

Armitage groaned, holding an arm up to the wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. He knew it was deep. He could see Ben running towards him only to encounter several more guards. Armitage took a deep breath and reached for his lightsaber, calling it to his hand with the _Force_ as he struggled to stay conscious.

He could feel the worried hum of his kyber crystal as his weapon returned to his hand, and the guard continued to approach until it stood before them, sword raised up. It then brought the weapon down, and Armitage managed to catch the attack with his own lightsaber at the last second, feeling the heat from the two blades as they continued to near him.

"No, you don't!" he could hear Poe yell as the man lunged at the suit of armor in an attempt to tackle it only for a wave of Darkness to fling him away effortlessly.

"You're there aren't you?" he asked the armor breathlessly. Snoke must have wanted to make him suffer before the end. The cut on his side was just deep enough, and he was certain that the other could have made it fatal if he really wanted to at that moment.

" _You will never escape me. Kylo Ren will become mine, and you will be reminded of your place, rabid cur."_

Armitage gritted his teeth. "I'll never follow you again, monster."

This seemed to snap something in the other as the guard forced the blade down, and he screamed, feeling the merciless burning on his shoulder as his own kyber crystal shrieked.

"Armitage!" he could hear Ben's voice from across the room, still trying to fend off his own entourage of guards, before he turned back to the masked face of his attacker above him, staring down his imminent death in defiance.

It was at that moment that he felt a strong surge of the _Force_ , a massive wave that roared through the room and blasted the guard away with such fury that it slammed the enemy into the opposite wall, shattering the rock before its armor crumpled inward into an unrecognizable heap. Armitage dropped his lightsaber in surprise at the sudden relief and looked up to see a hooded figure standing before him, a trembling hand raised in the direction of the destroyed suit of armor.

"Kaiyo?" Poe groaned, struggling to his feet. "Damn, why couldn't you have done that earlier?"

The figure removed its hood, and Armitage found himself staring into sea-green eyes. "Because he attacked Armitage."

He could hear Ben and the others still fighting off the guards, but his attention was focused on the woman standing above him. It was as if time had suddenly stood still between them, walling themselves off from the chaos that surrounded them.

 _The ocean stretched far into the horizon, the noontime sun's golden rays reflecting brilliantly off of sea-green eyes. She smiled and took his hand._

" _Armitage."_

"Kaiyo," he breathed. He could taste the salt of tears on his lips. "The others used to call you Kaiyo after the ocean."

Tears welled up in her eyes as she knelt down and embraced him in a warmth he had forgotten long ago, had longed for since that fateful day his father had taken him away from Arkanis. He could feel his wound scream in protest, but he knew he would take a dozen blaster shots in the chest for this to continue forever.

"I've been searching for you everywhere," she whispered in his ear. "I was never able to reach you."

"Sorry." He hugged her tighter despite the pain, feeling his chest tighten as wave after wave of nostalgia hit him. "M-mother," his voice cracked. "I-I'm…"

Then, time flowed again as a buzz behind them prompted Kaiyo to whirl around, and with one wave of her hand, summoned Armitage's lightsaber to her in time to block a vibro-voulge that lunged at them. She held her stance with some difficulty, her arms trembling under the strength of the other.

" _How sweet, a reunion,"_ he could hear Snoke's voice. _"Pity it will be short-lived."_

Kaiyo stumbled a step back, and it was at that moment that Armitage threw the guard away with a powerful surge of the _Force_ , channeling every ounce of his fury into the blow as the suit of armor flew away, slamming into the opposite wall. He let out a breath, feeling the rest of his consciousness begin to falter with that last attempt.

He saw Kaiyo above him again, sea-green eyes meeting his.

Oh, how he missed them.

"Hey, stay with me," Armitage heard a soft voice call to him as his consciousness started to fade. He was tired. His arm ached. His side burned. Then, he was warm, so impossibly warm.

"Come now, Armitage, just when I've found you."

He smiled contently.

.

Another dozen guards emerged from within the temple before Ben even had time to breathe, and he shoved them back with the Force as he made his way to Armitage.

"Don't worry. General Hug's still alive," the man named Poe said as he and the woman hoisted Armitage up between them. Ben flinched when he saw the blood dripping down the general's side, but he knew that they had to move soon, or else they would be surrounded. Poe seemed to also notice the damage. "We'd probably need to get him to the medbay soon though, or he might bleed out."

Ben turned to the other and met eyes briefly with the woman, finding himself staring into sea-green eyes.

" _Thank you for protecting him,"_ he heard in his mind. He looked away, choosing instead to focus on the battle at hand as he motioned for the others to start moving towards the entrance.

" _You cannot escape! I will tear you apart on this planet and feed your remains to my temple!"_ The guards were closing in on them in a massive wave of red even as they began making their way down the steps of the entrance. He honestly did not expect the temple to house so many guards, and it was difficult to sense how many more of them resided inside since they were not of the living.

"We need to get further away before the _Finalizer_ can fire!" Igniv yelled when Poe produced what looked like a detonator from inside his pocket. The Knight's face lit up. "No way."

Poe grinned. "What do you think we were doing the entire time? Running around in circles?"

The Resistance pilot then pressed the button, and a deafening roar echoed throughout the valley as the interior of the temple exploded into flames. Ben grabbed the lot of them and threw them to the floor as far away from the structure as he could send them, shielding everyone with the _Force_ as the building collapsed behind him. Stone crumpled upon itself, and he could feel the debris bouncing off the wall he had erected around them before he heard a wail so abhorrent he nearly lost his hold on the barrier.

The sound echoed through the valley as the temple continued to collapse behind them, fading to a final sigh as the last pillar fell into dust on the sand.

It was a long while before it was quiet once again, and he looked up warily to a pile of black stone where the temple had once stood, a few remnants of what looked like red armor peeking out from under the rubble.

Igniv let out a breath beside him.

"Is he gone?" he asked his friend although he knew the answer already. He could not remember a moment in his life when his mind was this clear.

The Knight nodded. "Gone."

Ben sighed and looked around him, sensing the _Upsilon-_ class shuttle just up the slope. He heard a buzz from the comm in Armitage's pocket and could imagine the panic Mitaka must be in up in the _Finalizer._ Not waiting for his permission, Igniv stepped over to the unconscious general and plucked the comm out of the man's pocket, walking away to talk into it and leaving Ben alone with the Resistance members and his general.

He looked at Rey, unable to find the right words to say to her after all this time. She seemed to share similar sentiments as she looked to the side. "Our transport is that way," the girl told him.

Ben wondered if they were going to try to take him back now to the Resistance. Without its supreme leader or general, the First Order would be easy pickings for the ones left, the old Imperials hellbent on their outdated ways. However, the girl looked sympathetic, and the sad smile told him that they were done fighting for today at least.

"You can come back, you know." Rey said.

Ben turned to Armitage, the man groaning slightly as Kaiyo gingerly wrapped his side with some bandages from a medkit. The man was hyperventilating from the blood loss, and he knew he had to move soon.

" _But he can't,"_ he told her through the _Force_. _"The Resistance will execute him."_

" _I will let them know of what he's done for you, and what he did, he did under the control of Snoke."_

Ben felt taken aback, not knowing that Rey had known of Armitage's background with the former supreme leader.

She grimaced, looking at Armitage. _"I saw when Snoke attacked him. It wasn't much, but I…"_ she trailed off.

" _They will not listen. They've never listened,"_ Ben replied. They both knew it to be the truth, and he would not hand Armitage over to them like this. They would set things right, but he would not put the man in harm's way doing so.

" _Your mother will listen,"_ she insisted.

Ben paused. _"Yes, she will. But the others won't."_

He walked over to Armitage and Kaiyo just as the woman secured the last bandage around the wound before brushing a strand of the man's fiery hair aside tenderly. She looked up at Ben as he approached, and he realized that he recognized those eyes, ones he had held close to his heart even through his many years of Darkness under Snoke, ones he was unable to let go of no matter how deep he had fallen from the Light. They were the eyes of a mother for her son.

"Please hurry," she told him.

Ben nodded and picked him up gingerly.

"You could stay with him if you wish. I will make sure no harm will come to you," he told her.

The woman smiled mysteriously. "I think I will return with Rey for now. I suspect that we'll be in contact shortly, and it would be in his best interest if I were to calm the others first with Rey." She caressed Armitage's forehead softly, her sea-green eyes a calm wave of serenity. _"Please, continue to take of my son."_

" _You needn't ask,"_ Ben replied.

"We're going to have a hell of a time explaining all of this," Poe muttered. Ben almost wanted to praise the man's level of self-restraint. He could sense the conflict bubbling underneath the Resistance pilot's relaxed exterior: years of sacrifice fighting the First Order, his losses on Crait, and now the image of the general of the enemy taking a blade to the side to save him.

Ben turned to Rey and the others. "Thanks for coming after me."

" _We'll..."_ He paused. _"We'll be in contact soon."_

Rey beamed.

.

The short flight back to the _Finalizer_ seemed an eternity as Igniv watched the remains of the temple become nothing but a small black speck on the surface of the desert planet, just as Snoke will be to them in a few years. Nothing more than a bad dream, he told himself firmly as he clenched his fists silently, attempting to hold in the despair threatening to seep out.

Snoke would fade, but he wasn't so sure about Skaara. He had stepped onto the planet with the faintest glimmer of hope that he knew he should have let go, had held onto it until the moment the light left the man's eyes. It had ended exactly the way he knew it would, and he attempted to reassure himself that it was all for the best. He would heal. Time would heal him.

"You alright?" the sudden question prompted him to turn to the side. Ben was sitting on the floor next to Armitage with a hand on the general's wound, the blood starting to seep through the bandages even as the other put more pressure on it.

Igniv smirked. "I should not be the one you're asking, you know."

"Well, it's not like you can ask a sleeping person a question to begin with," Ben returned.

His mouth hung open speechlessly. Ben had told a joke. He could not recall the last time the other had partaken in any sort of humor. Igniv didn't realize he was staring until Ben's eyebrows raised, now obviously suspicious of his reaction.

"I'm…" he struggled to collect his turbulent thoughts. "I have a small cut on my shoulder, but otherwise I'm unharmed."

Dark eyes bore into his. "You know that's not what I was referring to."

Igniv inwardly sighed. Leave it to the insensitive prick to ask now, but he supposed he should count it as an improvement though. Ben had never been invested in other people when it came to their feelings, having trouble controlling his own, and this would be considered a good start, even for his longtime friend.

"I'll be fine," he settled for those words. The other dropped off into silent acknowledgment, shifting slightly in attempt to control more of the bleeding. Igniv walked over and knelt to the ground, about to place a hand to help with the bleeding when he noticed the blood on his own gloves, Skaara's blood.

Time seemed to slow as he stared at the black leather, wondering if he should toss them. He was suddenly unable to shake the peaceful look the man had as he died out of his mind. Igniv knew it had to be done, had been expecting this outcome since he stepped foot onto the _Finalizer_ and pledged his loyalty to Ben.

It didn't mean that it didn't hurt though.

A soft nudge on his mind brought him back to reality to Ben's eyes, the man regarding him solemnly as he gulped down some air in an attempt to compose himself.

"You could blame me, Igniv. I brought us all to this," the other said quietly.

Igniv shook his head, wrenching the gloves off and tossing them unceremoniously on the floor of the shuttle before applying pressure on the part of the bandages Ben was unable to cover. It was a indeed decently large wound he noted when he felt the wetness under his hands.

"Skaara brought it all upon himself. You could blame yourself for what happened to you, but what he did, he has already paid for," he told the other. It was a moment before he added. "I've paid for my own decisions as well."

"What will you do now?"

Igniv hummed in contemplation as a shadow fell over the shuttle, the massive hull of the _Finalizer_ engulfing them as they entered the hangar.

"I'm not going to force you to stay, I mean. You've already done so much for me." Ben bit his lip, obviously struggling with his words. "I meant to say, thank you for coming after me and protecting Armitage. You didn't have to risk your life like that."

Igniv smiled. "I decided that I want to, so I did. There's no need for thanks, old friend."

Ben returned the gesture, something Igniv had not seemed in years. "Well, you're welcome to stay on the _Finalizer_ until you've decided what you want to do. You're not obligated to go on any missions, and you can eat and sleep all you want."

Igniv snorted. "What do you take me for? What would you be doing?"

Ben looked down at Armitage, eyes a little far away. "I'm not so sure myself." The man took a deep breath, obviously overwhelmed by the prospect. Igniv didn't blame him. If he felt this clear minded and free after Snoke's death, then Ben must feel loads lighter. "I suppose whatever Armitage wants to do. We'll figure it out."

The shuttle finally landed in the massive hanger, and Igniv took a step back as Ben gathered the general in his arms and hurried out. He followed suit, finding Mitaka waiting for him outside with a small entourage of the usual Stormtroopers as well as some med droids.

"What happened?" Mitaka exclaimed as Ben placed the general on a gurney the others had brought to the hanger. Several med droids immediately got to work, putting pressure on the bloodied bandage as they began wheeling Armitage away.

"Don't look so worried! He'll be fine," Igniv reassured the lieutenant, who watched Ben disappear out of the hanger doors with the small army of med droids. He'd rather not be in the way with Ben this worried over the general, having sensed the building concern back on the shuttle even with the calm demeanor the other had kept up. Ben was definitely back to his old self, and that could also mean the other's sharp temper had also returned. It was definitely pleasant watching the two of them progress this far.

He supposed he would take up Ben's offer and stay on the _Finalizer_ for now at least. There wasn't really anything he wanted to do, and perhaps the two could use someone to fill in some of Ben's old roles, although he doubted that they would be going out destroying things anytime soon with the way things are going.

"Sir?" Mitaka's voice brought him out of his turbulent thoughts. The man's earnest eyes were always so comforting. Another reason to stay, he told himself. "Are you okay?" the other asked.

Igniv smiled. It would take time, as with all things. Skaara was gone now, but so was Snoke. They would never hurt him again.

"I'll be fine." He faked a yawn, stretching his arms theatrically, not expecting to hear an actual crack when it happened. The gesture ended up feeling better than he thought. "I could use a bath though, maybe a massage," he mused.

He had a lot of time now, and his mind had never been this clear in years, free to roam in the _Force_ that surrounded him.

"I can arrange those for you," the lieutenant offered.

"You'll give me a massage?" Igniv joked, although the thought was quite appealing.

Mitaka raised up his hands in embarrassment, the blush deepening when the man realized the implications of his words. "I-I mean, we have some pretty good massage droids that some of the higher ups use when they are stressed, and your room is already equipped with a bath, s-so… unless…" he trailed off, unable to continue.

"How about we start with dinner? I'm quite hungry too at the moment," Igniv decided to save the other from digging the hole any deeper.

Mitaka nodded, the blush unrelenting.

Igniv grinned mischievously, feeling like his old self for the first time in years.

.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Finn gave her a big hug as soon as they stepped back into the _Millennium Falcon._ Rey returned the gesture, smiling widely as she saw BB-8 roll to Poe from the corner of her eye, its joyful chirps mirroring those of Finn.

Rey saw Leia approach her almost cautiously, the normally stern general almost unable to contain her apprehension as she let go of Finn and straightened up.

"I sense him almost disappear," Leia finally stated, waiting for her response.

"He's fine," Rey reassured her. "Armitage saved him."

"Armitage?" the general repeated the name incredulously. It was then that Leia turned to Kaiyo, the two exchanging a mysterious glance before the general finally smiled.

"Wait, that's impossible," Rose muttered, unable to contain her own disbelief at the entire situation.

"Yup, General Hugs saved him," Poe confirmed as he stood up. Rey was beginning to really appreciate his trust in her and the others. She could still sense his underlying disbelief at the entire situation, but he seemed to be taking everything quite well despite all that had happened. But, that was just how Poe was, and she was glad that she was able meet someone like him.

"That bastard even saved me," the Resistance pilot continued before he suddenly froze, raising his hands defensively as he turned to Kaiyo in a blind panic. "No offense, Kaiyo. Wait, that was extremely offensive. I'm sorry!"

Rey grinned as Kaiyo chuckled, the two of them exchanging knowing glances as the rest of the room looked at each other in confusion.

"Wait, what's so funny?" Finn inquired as Rey found herself staring out of the small transparasteel window, feeling the calm in the _Force_ for the first time since she had started noticing its presence.

"What do you think we should do from here?" Leia asked her quietly as the excitement behind them began to escalate as Poe struggled to explain their ordeals back in the temple.

Rey closed her eyes. "I think…" she paused. "I think we'll be okay."

.

Armitage's eyes fluttered open to the familiar ceiling of his own quarters, the lights mercifully dimmed to 40 percent. He felt fuzzy, his thoughts in an unnatural disarray from what he could only assume were sedatives. Or it could be stims. In his current state of mind, he couldn't tell the difference or seem to remember how he made it into his own bed.

He wondered blearily if he had overslept for his shift on the bridge. Perhaps Snoke would be calling for him soon for a meeting to discuss the fall of Starkiller, or worse…

He sat up in a blind panic, expecting to feel hands pushing him down but only blankets slid off of him, accompanied by a deep ache in his side. He lifted up his regulation tank top gingerly, finding a set of bandages around the wound, the skin an unsightly array of purple. Or, his mind began to speculate again, perhaps it was after Crait, after Kylo had slammed him against the side of the shuttle, and now that he was awake, the new supreme leader would return to finish the job.

Yet, it was strange. He didn't remember allocating bacta and bandages for his bruises or calling a med droid in to put them on him.

Armitage blinked a few more times, trying to snap out of the fog that seemed to encase his brain. A soft hum from his nightstand seemed to drive away some of blur, and he turned to see a lightsaber sitting on the table. The image of a temple entered his mind, Snoke's presence echoing throughout its walls, threatening to swallow him whole, to finally choke him with the chains wrapped around his neck. But, before the monster could do so, there was Kylo, no, Ben, and Rey, and a woman with sea-green eyes, and the chains had lifted. His mind was free, afloat; he had never felt so light in his life.

He took a deep breath, his heart thumping in his chest. It was all too surreal, too good to be true. It must all be a dream after all. But, it couldn't be a dream. The hum became louder. Or was it?

" _Armitage."_ The woman in his mind's eye smiled.

He wouldn't be able to bear it if… if...

He heard the door to his quarters open and none other than the new supreme leader entered his room, dark eyes wide and radiating concern. Strange, he didn't know he could feel the other's emotions so well, as if they were his own.

"S-supreme Leader?" he could not suppress the unease in his voice as he struggled to straighten himself to attention.

"Hey, take it easy," the supreme leader said as the man moved across the room, and Armitage flinched when the other adjusted some pillows behind him so that he could sit more comfortably. "Damn it, I told them not to give you so many sedatives," Ben muttered under his breath, seemingly hurt by his unease.

He finally calmed down with the other's presence, his mind clearing slightly. He remembered now. He had gone to the temple on that desert planet to rescue Ben. He had been injured trying to save that Resistance pilot. His mother was there with the Resistance. Armitage paused.

His mother...

"What happened? Where's Snoke?" he inquired after the monster instead, afraid to know the answer.

"Gone. Dameron blew up the temple," Ben replied softly, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

Armitage leaned back in the pillows, turning the thought in his head several times as he struggled to wrap his mind around it. Snoke was really gone this time, sent to a place where the monster could not longer reach him. Then that meant…

He was afraid to ask, but he swallowed his unease and continued. "Then the other's… I'm assuming you let them go?" he inquired, hoping, praying for that to be the case. He could not sense their presence on the _Finazlier_ , so Ben must have let them go, right? It was strange, because if he was in his right mind, he would have advocated for the exact opposite. At least, as General Hux of the First Order just a few cycles ago, he would have.

Ben nodded, seeming to understand exactly what he was getting at. "Your mother left with them. She said she expects to be in contact soon."

Armitage swallowed thickly. "Of course." He could not suppress the relief in his voice. She was unharmed. She was alive, with the Resistance. The thought was still immensely overwhelming. He had buried the hope of seeing her again for so long, had suppressed the spark inside of him, that his mind continued to reason that this all was some twisted dream, fated to shatter at any moment when he awoke. It terrified him to no end. Before his mind could come up with any more irrational scenarios, he felt a squeeze on his hand and looked down, seeing Ben's fingers entwined in his, solid and warm, grounding him back to reality.

"Don't think about it for now," the other reassured him. "We have time."

"Yes, time…" he trailed off.

It was over.

Snoke was dead.

It was then it hit him. He was free, safe, alive. She was alive. Ben was with him, eyes as clear as the waters of Arkanis on a sunny day. The relief felt overwhelming, the emotions enhanced with his sedative-induced daze, and he could feel his chest constricting, his breaths uneven.

It was then that warm arms wrapped around him, cementing him to reality, the familiar comfort embracing him. He returned the gesture weakly, ignoring the ache in his side with the bandages, and he relaxed under the other, allowing the fog around his mind to slowly lift as he collected more of himself.

"Thank you for coming after me," Ben whispered in his ear, stroking his hair tenderly as he trembled in the other's arms, holding a sob of relief that he knew wanted to escape.

"How were you able to break free from Snoke's control?" Armitage finally managed.

"Hmm," Ben hummed around him, the vibration a pleasant rumble. "I heard you calling to me." The man paused briefly, as if savoring the memory. "You were about to say something. I remember really wanting to hear it to the end."

"I…" What was it that he wanted to… Armitage could feel his face heat up, remembering the single thought that ran through his mind as he looked death in the eye in the form of Snoke.

He swallowed, suddenly embarrassed. He had really thought that he was about to die at that moment and nearly blurted the words out before Ben had suddenly taken back control and ejected Snoke out.

Ben pulled away just slightly to look at him with those beautiful dark eyes, a twinkle playing in them. Armitage could stare at them all day. The man cupped his cheek with a free hand, brushing a strand of stray hair behind his ears with those large hands calloused from years of holding a lightsaber, yet still gentle against his skin.

"I love you," Ben whispered.

"Yes, that was…" he paused, suddenly embarrassed by the words torn from his own mouth. He gaped at the other for a moment, unable to say anything as he tried to decipher whether Ben was merely finishing his sentence from before or that… or that...

Ben laughed, a wonderful musical sound. "It's unusual for you to not have a retort, Grand Marshal."

"I-I do too, you Nerfherder," he returned indignantly, ignoring his change in title for the moment as he captured the other's lips in a kiss before Ben could retort. He could see the man's eyes widen with his sudden initiative, but a passionate haze misted over them soon after as Ben's hand moved to the back of his head, bringing him in to deepen the kiss. The other climbed over him slowly, positioning a knee between his legs as Ben pressed closer to him, eliciting an involuntary groan as Armitage felt the pressure against his crotch.

The other pulled away, expressive dark eyes staring into his. "Can I?" Ben whispered.

Armitage swallowed thickly and nodded. He felt himself already getting hard and wondered if he would be able to go through with the act after all this time. Of course, he was willing to give himself to Ben if the other wanted him, but the thought still made him nervous. What if he wasn't ready?

The bulge in his pants seemed to say otherwise.

"We'll take it slow," the other reassured him softly before placing a kiss on his forehead, as if sensing his inner turmoil. "Besides," the man continued, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I can't exactly go all out until you've healed."

Armitage could feel the heat rising to his ears and pulled the supreme leader back down for another kiss to hide his embarrassment, ignoring the burning in his side. He snaked a tongue inside the other's mouth, earning a rough grunt from the man before Ben's hands moved under his waistband and grasped the hardness underneath them.

He whimpered from the sudden intrusion, and their kisses grew rougher and more desperate as Ben began to stroke him. Armitage started to see stars, nearly whining when they finally separated for air, and he took the opportunity to wiggle out of his pajamas before attempting to relieve Ben of his tunic.

The rest of their clothes followed shortly, and Armitage shuddered from the cold air against his skin as he studied the heavily muscled form of the other hungrily. He still wasn't so sure if he'll be able to see this through to the end as he eyed the other's length. His side still throbbed relentlessly, and after a moment of careful lust-induced planning, he flipped their positions with some difficulty, earning a questioned stare from Ben underneath him.

"Are you sure?" the man murmured.

"Let me do this." He procured a bottle of lube from the bedside drawer, thankfully unused or he would not have been able to bear the memory, and poured it in his hand clumsily, his mind a whirlwind of emotions as Ben watched him carefully.

Armitage paused before he inserted one finger slowly, unable to suppress a moan from the intrusion. He hadn't touched himself for ages now since Snoke as the act had reminded him too much of his powerlessness against the other. Even now, he could feel the familiar panic return to him, and his movements suddenly froze, unable to move on. Ben regarded all of this calmly and gently took his hand out, entwining their fingers together, rubbing the stickiness through his own fingers.

"I'm yours to command," Ben whispered. "You're in control."

Armitage took a deep breath and nodded before motioning Ben's hand to his entrance. The man pressed in one finger just as slowly, and he gasped when Ben scissored his fingers, a slight smirk spreading through the other's face. Armitage gritted his teeth indignantly.

" _Stop grinning and hurry, you big oaf."_

" _Don't forget, you're the one who said hurry."_ Another finger entered him, and by the time the third joined in, Armitage was whimpering helplessly on Ben's hand, struggling to find release. He felt the other remove his hand, and he positioned himself over Ben's erection, taking a deep breath before lowering himself in.

Ben let out a throaty groan as he clenched around the man, and Armitage cried out involuntarily when the other rutted upward involuntarily, doubling over Ben and gasping from the sudden wave of pleasure that filled him. Then, at the same time, his body froze, suddenly reminded of the many times Snoke had…

" _Armitage, look at me."_

The voice was clear, lustful, completely Ben. He found himself whisked away from his own memories back to deep expressive eyes, orbs meant just for him.

" _You are in control. I will never let anyone hurt you ever again, Armitage,"_ Ben's voice caressed him in his own mind.

" _I can… ask anything of you?"_ he inquired carefully after a moment.

" _I am yours to command."_

He took a deep breath, repositioning himself as Ben groaned softly under him. "Those words earlier, say them to me again," he whispered against the other's ear.

Ben smiled. "I love you."

.

Ben woke up to an empty bed, holding back a wave of apprehension before he saw the piece of paper next to him on the nightstand. He had wanted to take it slow last night, but it turned out that Armitage was a passionate little creature, and the man's wound decided to reopen at the end just as Dr. Andrienne had predicted.

And of course, Ben had then proceeded to spend the rest of the night getting the grand marshal stitched back up by the med droids, attempting and failing at a few instances to keep a straight face in front of the all too indignant doctor. He supposed the only saving grace to the entire situation was that Armitage himself had no trouble ignoring Dr. Andrienne's disapproving rattling, too in pain to care through the procedure after refusing another round of sedatives.

The grand marshal had then pretty much passed out from exhaustion even before the last med droid rolled out the door, and Ben followed suit shortly after, having not slept since he'd return from the temple between getting Armitage to the infirmary and overseeing a few of the ships operations to make sure everyone was still in line. Mitaka had done a fine job in that aspect, and he decided to leave everything in the lieutenant's hands for the time being before falling into a dreamless sleep next to Armitage.

However, he did not expect to not even notice Armitage slip out this early. Knowing the other man, Armitage must have taken a full shower and changed into his uniform, which would have meant going through the drawers in the room, and Ben had slept through that as well. To make it worse, a pile of neatly folded clothes lay at the foot of the bed which looked suspiciously designated for him. Ben sighed and picked up the note, just a little impressed at the other's resilience.

He never figured Armitage to have bad handwriting, but the scrawl was endearingly crooked and it's message no less curt.

" _I've allowed you to sleep in just this once, Supreme Leader. If you would meet me on the bridge when you are awake, it would be much appreciated."_

He rolled out of bed slowly and took his time in the shower just to spite the other. Refreshed, he slipped on the clean black tunic and trousers Armitage had left for him, no doubt via one of the droids, and headed for the bridge. When he arrived, the crew worked on in silence as he passed them, the usual tension still there but much softer than he had remembered in ages. He spotted the fiery hair of the grand marshal across the room, his slim form outlined by the dim stars beyond the massive windows of the bridge.

"I don't like waking up to an empty bed," Ben commented as he took his place next to the man.

"I was feeling restless," Armitage replied, eyes still trained to the abyss beyond the transparasteel.

"Restless? You need to feel rested." Ben reminded himself to resume the other's meditation lessons before Armtiage fell into another round of insomnia again.

"I am rested," the other retorted. Ben could feel the man's mind running, the well-oiled machine he had missed listening to even back in his days when he still wore his helmet. "I've been thinking about how to proceed," Armitage admitted after a moment.

"We could run away. Start a space farm," he offered, playing with the notion.

Armitage snorted. "At least choose something that we both have some experience in."

"Smuggling?" Ben tried again, wrenching his nose in disgust even as the word left his lips.

Armitage mercifully ignored him. "I was thinking of opening discussions with some of the systems we have been in contact with. Protection in exchange for order."

"That's what we've been doing," Ben pointed out.

The man shook his head. "I was envisioning a different sort of order."

"Oh?"

"No slavery, for one thing."

"So, you'll start paying our Stormtroopers."

He could see the crease on Armitage's forehead deepen, knowing that the other had considered the possibility. "Yes," Armitage said after a moment.

Ben raised an eyebrow. "You're serious."

"We'll offer the children in the poorer planets a way out. No more taking, like what happened to me." He paused. "Like what I've done to so many others."

"And how are we going to pay for all this?" Armitage looked at him like he had just seen a ghost. "What?" Ben asked despite knowing exactly what the other was thinking.

"You are actually considering the budget for once, Supreme Leader?"

"It's part of my job," Ben said triumphantly, earning a moment of surprise from the other.

"I will draft something out," Armitage paused briefly as if considering his next words. "Your mother probably has some interesting proposals."

Ben gulped.

The rebuilding effort was just beginning. There was so much they needed to do. He was not prepared to face his mother for one thing, but he knew he had to now that Armitage had suggested it. He admitted to himself that Kaiyo had played her cards right by staying with the Resistance.

Still, Leia had to understand that they would not go back to the ways of the New Republic, not of the old First Order. He had destroyed it all, had burnt to ash everything that taken a small boy out of Arkanis, a child of the Light, and trapped him in the confines of the Darkness. He was ready to start anew, to build that ideal world.

He would find balance.

Ben felt a squeeze of assurance on his hand, thin fingers entwined in his. He turned from the vastness of space to the beautiful creature standing beside him.

"You ready?"

Armitage smiled.

The withering flame had been reborn into a thousand suns.

* * *

Thank you for reading! *hugs hugs*


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